Oppenheimer’s Christopher Nolan to Receive Knighthood From King Charles

After winning Academy Awards and grossing tons of money at the box office, Christopher Nolan has become a major player in the film world — and now, he’s about to be honored in a whole new way. On Thursday, it was announced that Nolan will be receiving a knighthood from the British Royal Family, which was reportedly personally approved by King Charles III. Nolan already received the honor of Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2019.

Nolan’s wife, producer Emma Thomas, will also be honored with a damehood, while Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos will be honored as a CBE. This trio of awards is to celebrate each creator’s respective contributions to the entertainment industry.

What Is Christopher Nolan’s Next Movie?

Following the smash success of Oppenheimer, many have wondered what Nolan’s next theatrical film will end up being. As the director explained in an interview late last year, his next film to hit the big screen definitely won’t be as dark.

“I definitely– part of me wants to leave the story behind,” Nolan explained. “I mean, it’s a great privilege to be able to talk about a film that you’ve made that’s now going into the home and on 4k and Blu-ray and all the rest. It’s great to be able to sit here and talk to you about the success of the movie. That’s a huge privilege. But the subject matter is very dark. It’s nihilistic. And, yeah, there’s part of me that’s quite keen to move on and maybe do something, you know, not quite as bleak.”

Will Christopher Nolan Direct Another Superhero Movie?

Recently, Nolan has made it clear that he would not return to direct another superhero movie, following the landmark success of his The Dark Knight trilogy. In a 2020 interview, Nolan argued that, for better or for worse, the landscape of superhero blockbusters has evolved massively since he was last in the field.

“It was the right moment in time for the telling of the story I wanted to do,” Nolan said. “The origin story for Batman had never been addressed in film or fully in the comics. There wasn’t a particular or exact thing we had to follow. There was a gap in movie history. Superman had a very definitive telling with Christopher Reeve and Richard Donner. The version of that with Batman had never been told. We were looking at this telling of an extraordinary figure in an ordinary world.”

He continued, “The other advantage we had was back then you could take more time between sequels. When we did ‘Batman Begins,’ we didn’t know we’d do one and it took three years to do it and then four years before the next one. We had the luxury of time. It didn’t feel like a machine, an engine of commerce for the studio. As the genre becomes so successful, those pressures become greater and greater. It was the right time.”

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