Christopher Nolan is one of the few directors whose name alone can fill theaters. It’s not surprising, considering his outstanding filmography, which includes original classics like Interstellar and Memento, as well as his Oscar-winning Batman movies.
The auteur’s latest movie, The Odyssey, is about to drop in theaters, and now might be the best time to catch up on the rest of his work. You’ll be treated to some of the best movies of all time, and many feature his trademark twists and non-linear storytelling. Here’s how to watch all Christopher Nolan movies in order.
Film Title | Year | Streaming platform |
Following | 1998 | |
Memento | 2000 | Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. |
Insomnia | 2002 | |
Batman Begins | 2005 | Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango, and HBO Max. |
The Prestige | 2006 | Amazon Prime, Fandango, and Apple TV. |
The Dark Knight | 2008 | Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango, and HBO Max. |
Inception | 2010 | |
The Dark Knight Rises | 2012 | |
Interstellar | 2014 | |
Dunkirk | 2017 | |
Tenet | 2020 | |
Oppenheimer | 2023 | |
The Odyssey | 2026 | N/A |
Following
The one that started it all
Christopher Nolan took a year to film his debut feature on a shoestring budget. The black-and-white movie is about a young man who follows people in the hope of finding material for his novel. One of the people turns out to be a burglar who convinces the young man to join him on burglaries. Soon the young man is drawn into a web of crime and intrigue which he can’t escape.
Twisty crime thriller, Following, introduced the world to Christopher Nolan and his trademark complex characters and non-linear stories. It provides a taster of what’s to come, and you can buy or rent it on Amazon Prime Video.
- Release Date
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April 2, 1999
- Runtime
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69 minutes
- Director
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Christopher Nolan
- Writers
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Christopher Nolan
Memento
From finish to start
Christopher Nolan’s breakthrough film, Memento, is about a former insurance salesman called Leonard who has anterograde amnesia and is on a mission to avenge his wife’s murder. He can’t store any new memories since the murder and relies on tattoos he’s inscribed on himself and notes to get by and piece things together.
Leonard’s memory loss complicates his quest for revenge as he must constantly make assumptions about his situation and is often manipulated by people taking advantage of his condition. Memento is known for its dual storylines. One tells the story backwards, and the other goes forward before they meet at the end with an explosive conclusion. Memento is available to watch right now on Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video. You can also see it for free with ads on Tubi TV.
- Release Date
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October 11, 2000
- Runtime
-
113 minutes
- Director
-
Christopher Nolan
Insomnia
A thrilling murder mystery
Insomnia is one of Christopher Nolan’s more conventional films and the only one that he didn’t write. It’s about two officers, Will Dormer and Hap Eckhart, who are sent to investigate the murder of a girl in Alaska. The former is under investigation for misconduct, and the latter will testify against him.
The officers chase a possible suspect, and Dormer kills Eckhart by mistake. The murderer sees this and uses it against him to evade the law. Insomnia becomes a cat-and-mouse game between the murderer and the detective whose mind is unraveling due to his guilt and lack of sleep because of the perpetual daylight. Insomnia is available to watch on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV.
- Release Date
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May 24, 2002
- Runtime
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118 Minutes
- Director
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Christopher Nolan
Batman Begins
A grounded take on the caped crusader
2005’s Batman Begins was Christopher Nolan’s first foray into blockbuster territory and introduced the world to a more grounded and realistic Gotham City. This movie follows the traditional beats with the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents. We also get to see his grueling training and watch him transform from a lost playboy to a vigilante who’ll do anything to save his corrupt city from destruction.
Batman Begins was a game-changer at the time with amazing performances from its all-star cast, including Christian Bale as Batman and Michael Caine as Alfred, who go up against Liam Neeson’s Ra’s al Ghul and Cillian Murphy’s Scarecrow. You can watch Batman Begins on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango, and HBO Max.
- Release Date
-
June 15, 2005
- Runtime
-
140 minutes
- Director
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Christopher Nolan
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Christian Bale
Bruce Wayne / Batman
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-
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Katie Holmes
Rachel Dawes
The Prestige
A new bag of tricks
The Prestige is about a pair of Victorian-era magicians, Robert Angier and Alfred Borden, who are fierce rivals and will stop at nothing to outdo each other. They initially work together as assistants for another magician, then Angier’s wife dies during a water tank trick, and he blames Borden for her death. It sets off a chain of retaliatory events as each magician tries to build a career while the other is set on destroying it.
The story weaves through years of the magicians’ lives and ends with one of Nolan’s signature twists. We are transported into the world of magic and illusion and get a glimpse of what goes on behind the scenes. Christian Bale and Hugh Jackman are perfectly cast as the dueling magicians supported by Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, and David Bowie. You can see The Prestige on Amazon Prime, Fandango, and Apple TV.
- Release Date
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October 20, 2006
- Runtime
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130 minutes
- Director
-
Christopher Nolan
The Dark Knight
The best comic book movie ever?
The Dark Knight expands the first film’s scope and takes the action to the next level. Criminals in Gotham City fear Batman and turn to the Joker to get rid of him. The Joker embarks on a terror campaign in Gotham, killing many high-profile victims to lure Batman out. What follows is a battle of wits as the maniacal Joker takes the city hostage and Batman must risk everything to stop him.
Heath Ledger’s unhinged Joker is one of the most iconic villains of all time and provides the perfect foil for a Batman who’s pushed to his limit. The battle between them for the soul of Gotham spills over into the streets, and other characters are killed in the crossfire. The Dark Knight is often hailed as one of the best comic book movies of all time, and you can watch it on Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, Fandango, and HBO Max.
- Release Date
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July 16, 2008
- Runtime
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152 minutes
- Director
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Christopher Nolan
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Christian Bale
Bruce Wayne
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Aaron Eckhart
Harvey Dent
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Inception
A dream within a dream
Inception is a mind-bending film about a team of thieves who use experimental technology to steal secrets from the minds of high-profile executives. Leonardo DiCaprio’s Cobb leads the team on a heist that is actually a test to see what they are capable of. He’s then offered immunity for his past crimes if he can infiltrate the mind of a magnate’s son and plant an idea to break up his father’s company.
To this, the team must navigate through several dream levels, each with its own obstacles and challenges. Inception offers breathtaking action set-pieces as the team must evade agents and race against the clock to accomplish their mission. This movie is currently available on Apple TV, Fandango, and Amazon Prime Video.
- Release Date
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July 16, 2010
- Runtime
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148 minutes
- Director
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Christopher Nolan
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Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Arthur
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-
The Dark Knight Rises
An epic conclusion to the saga
The Dark Knight Rises takes place eight years after the events of The Dark Knight. Gotham City is finally free of crime, and Bruce Wayne is a recluse whose body is now old and weak. Chaos arrives in the form of Bane, a former League of Shadows member who bankrupts Bruce Wayne, then breaks his back and leaves him to die in an underground prison. Bane then imprisons all the police in the sewers and takes over Gotham City.
Bruce Wayne must escape and take up the mantle of Batman to stop Bane and his army from destroying Gotham. Tom Hardy steals the show as the formidable Bane and provides a worthy adversary to an older, wiser Batman. You can watch The Dark Knight Rises on Apple TV, Fandango, Amazon Prime TV, and HBO Max.
- Release Date
-
July 17, 2012
- Runtime
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165 minutes
- Director
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Christopher Nolan
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Christian Bale
Bruce Wayne
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Gary Oldman
Commissioner Gordon
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Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Blake
Interstellar
A race to save the world
Interstellar is a sci-fi epic in which the Earth is dying, and a team of astronauts led by Mathew McConaughey’s Cooper must travel into space to find a new home for humanity. The astronauts must explore three planets to find the best option to support life, but each trip takes years and scuppers Cooper’s chances of reuniting with his family.
Interstellar has brilliant special effects and is a saga of survival against all the odds. It’s famous for its realistic scientific principles and a grounded take on space exploration. You can watch it on Fandango and Amazon Prime Video.
- Release Date
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November 5, 2014
- Runtime
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169 minutes
- Director
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Christopher Nolan
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Matthew McConaughey
Cooper
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Michael Caine
Professor Brand
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Dunkirk
An epic war movie
Dunkirk is a World War II epic about the mass evacuation of Allied soldiers from France. It presents the rescue from land, sea, and air perspectives, with each having a different timeline. The land perspective occurs over a week and follows a soldier on the ground who must evade German troops and get to a transport ship. The sea perspective takes place over one day and follows a civilian boat owner trying to help evacuate soldiers. The air perspective follows a Royal Air Force pilot protecting the fleet from German fighters and occurs over one hour.
The movie offers gritty action and realism as it depicts one of the most amazing feats during the war. We get to witness the event from multiple perspectives, with each dealing with significant setbacks and challenges. For a war movie, Dunkirk is lean at just 106 minutes and focuses on action rather than politics. Dunkirk is currently streaming on Apple TV, Fandango, and Amazon Prime Video.
- Release Date
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July 21, 2017
- Runtime
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106 minutes
- Director
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Christopher Nolan
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-
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Kenneth Branagh
Commander Bolton
Tenet
Time flows both ways
Tenet is another mind-bending Christoper Nolan film that keeps you guessing until the end. The movie follows John David Washington’s The Protagonist, who’s recruited by a shadowy government agency to investigate inverted objects sent from the future that are traveling backwards in time.
The Protagonist must team up with a mysterious agent, Neil, to unravel the mystery, which threatens the world. His mission takes him on a globe-trotting time-travel adventure which culminates in an epic battle. Tenet has all the twists and turns of a Nolan movie and breathtaking practical special effects. You can watch Tenet on Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, and Fandango.
- Release Date
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September 3, 2020
- Runtime
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150 minutes
- Director
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Christopher Nolan
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John David Washington
Protagonist
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Oppenheimer
A World War II history lesson
Oppenheimer is a biographical thriller that follows the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, known for creating the atomic bomb. It provides a behind-the-scenes look at how he endured accusations of being a communist party member as a teacher in the 1930s to becoming the leading scientist in the US nuclear program during World War II.
The movie dissects his choices and examines the consequences he faced for creating a world-ending device. Oppenheimer got rave reviews on release and won Oscars for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Cinematography. Cillian Murphy won the Best Actor award for his portrayal of Oppenheimer, and Robert Downey Jr. won the Best Supporting Actor award as Rear Admiral Lewis Strauss. Oppenheimer is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime Video, Fandango, and Apple TV.
- Release Date
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July 21, 2023
- Runtime
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181 minutes
- Director
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Christopher Nolan
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Cillian Murphy
J. Robert Oppenheimer
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Emily Blunt
Kitty Oppenheimer
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Robert Downey Jr.
Lewis Strauss
The Odyssey
A classic Greek epic
The Odyssey is based on Homer’s classic Greek poem. It follows the journey of Odysseus, the Greek King of Ithaca, who’s trying to make his way home to his wife and child after the Trojan War, but encounters many setbacks along the way.
The journey home takes ten years, as Odysseus must overcome legendary monsters, like the Cyclops, the Sirens, and others. Meanwhile, everyone back home thinks he is dead, and rivals are trying to take his throne. The Odyssey features Matt Damon as Odysseus, Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy, Tom Holland as Telemachus, and Anne Hathaway as Penelope. It’s scheduled for release in the US on July 17, 2026.
- Release Date
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July 17, 2026
- Runtime
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172 Minutes
- Director
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Christopher Nolan
