NATO will present Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas with its Spirit of the Industry Award at CinemaCon in April for the event’s closing night Big Screen Achievement Awards.
It comes as the Nolan written-directed Oppenheimer is set for theatrical release July 21 from Universal Pictures. Produced by Thomas, Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven and Nolan.
“I am deeply honored to present the Spirit of the Industry Award to our good friends Chris and Emma as my last official act as President of NATO,” noted outgoing boss John Fithian. “No one has done more to advance the theatrical experience than these two champions of cinema.” Fithian last fall announced plans to step down as head of the theater-owners’ association he’s led for 20 years. He previously worked as outside counsel for the group.
The org said Nolan and Thomas’ films “shatter the limits of what cinematic storytelling can achieve, maintaining a shared passion and commitment to the theatrical filmgoing experience that is unwavering and unparalleled.”
Tenet, Dunkirk, Interstellar, Inception, The Dark Knight trilogy and others have earned more than $5 billion at the global box office and nabbed 11 Oscars and 36 nominations. Tenet was notable as the first studio film to test the waters in theaters during Covid.
Oppenheimer is an Imax-shot thriller about the enigmatic scientist who must risk destroying the world in order to save it. Cillian Murphy stars as J. Robert Oppenheimer. With Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey, Jr. Florence Pugh, Benny Safdie, Michael Angarano, Josh Hartnett and Rami Malek, and reuniting Nolan with Kenneth Branagh, it’s based on the Pulitzer-Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.
Cinemacom unspools April 24-27 at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.