Director Christopher Nolan leaves 20-year partnership with Warner Bros

The mind behind the Batman blockbusters has signed up with Universal for a nine-figure drama about the creation of the atomic bomb

Writer/producer/director Christopher Nolan attends the 26th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival at the Arlington Theater on January 30, 2011 in Santa Barbara, California. (Photo by John M. Heller/Getty Images)

The mind behind Memento, the Dark Knight and Inception, film director Christopher Nolan, will be making his next feature for content titans Universal - ending a near-two-decade relationship with Warner Bros.

News broke in Hollywood today of the new arrangement, which sees Universal stump up over $100m (€84.5m) to back a drama about scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb - as well as his later calls for control of nuclear weapons and his opposition to further developments in the medium.