Tom Holland, Zendaya, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, and Lupita Nyong’o all star in the new Nolan movie: here’s everything we know about the film!
If there’s anything we know about Christopher Nolan, it’s that he takes his time with films and keeps production information top secret. Everything we know regarding the new Nolan movie is that Tom Holland and Matt Damon will be teaming up with Zendaya, Anne Hathaway, and Lupita Nyong’o. We also know that initial online speculation about the plot was debunked, and that it will get a wide IMAX release date in the not too distant future. Here is everything else we know about the new Nolan movies so far!
Everything we know about the cast of the new Nolan movie
The first two cast announcements revealed that Matt Damon (Interstellar and Oppenheimer) and Tom Holland (Spider-Man) will star in the new Nolan movie. While Damon will be appearing in his third Nolan feature, this is Holland’s first for his fellow Englishman. Holland is also set to film his fourth Spider-Man with director Destin Daniel Cretton (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) in 2025, which is when Nolan plans to shoot as well.
Zendaya (Dune: Part Two and Challengers) and Oscar winner Anne Hathaway (The Dark Knight Rises and Interstellar) were then also announced to join the cast. In nice symmetry, another Nolan regular will be joining along with Tom Holland’s real-life partner, who also plans on shooting the fourth Spider-Man next year.
After initial rumors of casting Lupita Nyong’o (A Quiet Place: Day One) were not confirmed, it looks like the 12 Years a Slave Oscar-winner will be joining Nolan and the rest of the A-listers. Nyong’o had a strong 2024, starting as jury president of the Berlinale International Film Festival in February followed by a lead performance in Quiet Place: Day One over the Summer.
These casted actors are noticeably more commercial than the last few Nolan films, which were led by Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), John David Washington (Tenet), and in Dunkirk’s case, an ensemble of British actors. It’s expected that other Nolan regulars, especially Michael Caine, will be cast in the future for smaller parts.
When will the new Nolan movie be released?
Universal Pictures confirmed a wide IMAX release for July 16, 2026, following Nolan’s preference for the third or fourth weekend of July. This will be Nolan’s second film with Universal, which won the opportunity to produce Oppenheimer after Nolan left Warner Bros. following David Zaslav’s decision to make the theatrical release less important during Covid.
The release date of the new Nolan film, along with its cast and early 2025 production date, further conflicts with the fourth Spider-Man, which is eyeing July 24, 2026, a week after Nolan’s. While this echoes the potential for a successful Barbenheimer sequel, it would end up more like last year’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. Not even Tom Cruise could keep his franchise on IMAX screens when Oppenheimer took them all over two weeks later.
What is the new Nolan movie about?
As with any Christopher Nolan release, the plot will remain top secret until marketing promotions begin a year before the release. What we do know is that Nolan wrote and will direct the movie, his fourth feature in a row without a co-writer since working with his brother Jonathan Nolan on Interstellar. Nolan will be joined again with wife and producing partner Emma Thomas with their Syncopy production company.
Regarding the story, initial rumors about an espionage or vampire movie spread. The most detailed was that it would be a helicopter cop thriller featuring an older mentor and younger lead after Damon and Holland were announced. Speculation was that this would be a remake of Blue Thunder, a 1983 helicopter action thriller directed by John Badham starring Roy Scheider and Warren Oates. Sources denied all of these rumors when Zendaya and Hathaway were later announced.
The only information sources didn’t deny was that the new Nolan movie would not be set in the modern day. Nolan has experience with both settings in the past (The Prestige, Dunkirk, and Oppenheimer) and future (Tenet).
Will the new Nolan movie be released in IMAX?
Nolan and IMAX have a strong relationship in which both are constantly innovating and challenging one another to grow. His new film will be no different: during a quarterly earnings call, IMAX CEO Richard Gelfond announced that the new film “will be utilizing new IMAX technology in the making of the film, never before used equipment that our teams have been developing throughout this past year.”
Innovating technologies is a natural progression for Nolan, who had already made IMAX create the largest possible film print for the180-minute Oppenheimer. It turns out that that limit includes 11 miles of film stock that weighs 600 pounds. That’s twice as heavy as this year’s 215-minute The Brutalist, showing how large and heavy IMAX film stock is compared to traditional 35mm.
It will be fascinating to see how Nolan’s new film will turn out directly following his highest career mark both critically and financially. More details will follow in the coming months; will Nolan production regulars like composer Ludwig Göransson, editor Jennifer Lame, and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, all of whom won Oscars for their work on Oppenheimer, return?
We’ll have to wait and see.
