It is arguable that no other director has shaped the past decade of film more than Christopher Nolan. Coming to prominence ten years ago with Batman Begins, Nolan reinvigorated the superhero genre offering a contemporary, grounded take on the caped crusader who previously starred in one of the worst films of all time, Batman and Robin.
Followed by an even more beloved sequel, The Dark Knight achieved unprecedented critical and financial success for a superhero film. Next was Inception, a heist film where the thieves use technology to delve into their victims’ dreams to retrieve contraband information.
Inception was groundbreaking for its story within a story plot, and had excellent performances and visual effects.
2012 brought The Dark Knight Rises, which was a very satisfying and epic conclusion to the Batman trilogy. Delving into sci-fi with Interstellar in 2014, Nolan delivered one of the most scientifically accurate films ever made, while giving us an experience to remember for ages.
So, after a slew of successful films, the question is what is next for Nolan?
Warner Brothers announced that Nolan will be directing a feature for them set to come out July 2017. Nothing is known at all about the project besides the director and release date.
There is always room for speculation. It is known that asides from the Batman trilogy, Nolan always directs different types of movies. Memento is not at all similar in subject matter to Inception, which is nothing like Interstellar. Nolan has delved into superheroes, heists, sci-fi, psychological thrillers, and mystery.
What does that leave for Nolan? A period piece war film about the Revolutionary War could certainly benefit from Nolan’s gritty style. Or perhaps a fantasy akin to Lord of the Rings, yet not even Nolan could ever compete with those films. Maybe even a comedy, as out of place as that sounds for Nolan. Regardless, based off his track record, whatever Christopher Nolan directs is sure to be a groundbreaking thoughtful film.
There are some clues that suggest that this upcoming mystery project is more likely to be a blockbuster epic than a small scale film, based off its release date alone.
Within a month of Jul. 21, Toy Story 4, Wonder Woman, Pirates of the Caribbean 5, War of the Planet of the Apes, the new Spiderman film, and Pacific Rim 2 will all be released.
These are more movies than some see in a year alone, and they all have similar target demographics.
On the one hand, putting out a tent pole film will get attention from the mainstream and perhaps take some business from Apes or Spiderman.
On the other hand, putting out an abstract smaller scale film may also target the people not interested in all of the mainstream action films and hence create business where there was none before, instead of transferring where business is given.
More information will likely come toward the winter months to keep the public intrigued by Nolan’s latest project.
Stay tuned, and if you have any speculation or opinion on what you would like to see Nolan direct from his next project, email the above account and I will publish them!
