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Christopher Nolan’s New Movie Landed at Universal Despite Warner Bros.’ Attempt to Lure Him Back With Seven-Figure ‘Tenet’ Check

Christopher Nolan's new movie with Matt Damon landed at Universal after the director rejected Warner Bros.' offer to return to the studio.

Former Warner Bros. Entertainment chief Ann Sarnoff and the studio’s motion picture chairman, Toby Emmerich, agreed to move forward with a theatrical release so long as Nolan forwent certain fees. The best picture winner earned nearly a billion dollars — $976 million, to be exact — despite its R rating, three-hour run time and focus on a historical figure who is “the least likely subject to make money in the history of the entertainment business,” Galloway notes. However, that franchise has been in limbo since Daniel Craig retired as 007 with 2021’s “No Time to Die.” Plus, Nolan is a final-cut director, and Bond gatekeeper Barbara Broccoli is loath to grant any filmmaker that control.

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