Christopher Nolan parts ways with Warner Bros after almost two decades; here's why

Following his parting with Warner Bros, Universal Pictures has now signed up director and producer Christopher Nolan for his upcoming project. Nolan, who is currently working on a World War II movie, is set to begin making the film for Universal Pictures. With this, Nolan has now officially ended his 19-year association with the Warner Bros production house.  

Christopher Nolan has moved to Universal Pictures for his upcoming project and it is big news for the production house. The director, who has already delivered a masterclass in the World War genre with Dunkirk, is making his way back to the genre. According to reports, the movie is expected to cost around USD 100 million.

READ | Christopher Nolan Readies Next After 'Tenet', Talks With Studios For Oppenheimer Project

Why Christopher Nolan left Warner Bros?

Nolan has been working with Warner Bros since 2002 with the film Insomnia. The filmmaker along with the studio house went on to make high-grossing movies like the Batman trilogy, Inception, Dunkirk, and Interstellar. However, the fallout between the director and the production house happened recently during the pandemic-induced lockdown. Following the COVID-19 spread, movie theatres across the world were closed and studios were forced to find alternate ways for raising revenue.

Warner Bros was the first among the big studios to announce a hybrid release for films, where the debut of the titles in theatres would happen on the same day as it was made available to stream on HBO Max for 31 days. Nolan, being a purist in terms of producing and releasing films, publicly opposed the decision. In an interview with ET Online in late 2020, Nolan had said that he was in 'disbelief' over the studio handling of new releases. Following the move, Nolan began looking elsewhere and Universal Pictures came in offering a fully theatrical release for his upcoming war movie.

READ | Christopher Nolan Parts Ways From Warner Bros For Upcoming Atom Bomb Film

Christopher Nolan's World War II movie

The maker of hits like Inception and The Prestige had a bit of a dip after his latest film Tenet failed to hit the mark it was expected to. A rather ambitious project, Tenet, fell short of being yet another Nolan's masterpiece. The director is now looking to shake things up with his latest outing. According to international reports, the World War II-based drama will follow the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb. Filming of the USD 100 million project is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2022 as the financers eye for a late 2023 release.

READ | Jennifer Aniston was initially 'put off' by Vanessa Bayer's Rachel impression on SNL

Image: AP/ PIXABAY