Charlize Theron is the latest star to join Christopher Nolan’s top-secret follow-up to his Best Picture Oscar winner “Oppenheimer,” which Universal will release on July 17, 2026, The Wrap has learned.
The film also stars Tom Holland, Matt Damon, Lupita Nyong’o, Zendaya. Anne Hathaway and Robert Pattinson. Plot details are currently being kept under wraps and insiders note that loglines or descriptions of the film that have been published to date are wrong.
Through a combination of Nolan’s devoted global fanbase, universal acclaim, strong marketing from Universal and Imax, and an organic pop culture phenomenon spawned by its shared release with “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer” became the highest-grossing biopic in box office history with $976 million worldwide last year.
Then, this past March, the film became the highest-grossing movie to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 20 years. In fact, it was the first Best Picture winner since “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” in 2004 to gross more than $500 million worldwide.
In the wake of that historic success, Nolan and his wife/producing partner Emma Thomas chose immediately to maintain the relationship between their company, Syncopy, and Universal, which landed “Oppenheimer” after Nolan’s public split with longtime studio partner Warner Bros.
Next up, Theron will star and also produce genre thriller “Apex” at Netflix with Baltasar Kormákur in final talks to direct the project. Theron will also star in the “The Old Guard” sequel also for the streamer.
Reps for Universal did not have comment.