Universal will be the home of Christopher Nolan’s next project, a film about the creation of the atom bomb

Universal just made a deal for Christopher Nolan’s next film. The director’s long relationship with Warner Bros. ended when the studio announced its entire 2021 film slate would stream on HBO Max the same day movies opened in theaters. For his next film, Nolan had several demands for potential studios, including a 110-day exclusive theatrical window, which is more than the standard 90-day window and way more than the recently common 45-day window. He also wanted a blackout period where the studio would not release another movie in the weeks before or after his film.

Nolan ended up picking Universal for his next project, a World War II drama about the creation of the atom bomb.

With so few studios committed to theatrical releases, only a few contenders were ever really in the running. Nolan doesn’t make the kind of movies Disney is interested in, Paramount just fired its theater-friendly studio chief, and while Sony chairman Tom Rothman was able to woo Quentin Tarantino for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and would have loved to have this Nolan film as well, Universal ultimately won.