The next Barbenheimer? Kristen Wiig and Jonah Hill set out to take down Christopher Nolan with new comedy

Key points

• Kristen Wiig and Jonah Hill are teaming up for the new comedy Cut Off.

• Hill is directing the film and co-writing with Ezra Woods.

• The film will release on July 17, 2026 — the same day as Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey.

Can Kristen Wiig and Jonah Hill take down the cyclops?

The Bridesmaids star and the 21 Jump Street actor are set to star in a new comedy film, Cut Off, Entertainment Weekly has learned. Hill, who previously helmed the indie coming-of-age dramedy Mid90s, is directing and co-writing, while Ezra Woods is also helping pen the project. Deadline reported that the movie will follow two wealthy siblings who are financially cut off from their parents.

The movie will begin production in the fall so that Warner Bros. can release it on July 17, 2026…which is the same day that Christopher Nolan’s period epic The Odyssey will sail into theaters.

This marks the second time in a row that WB has scheduled a high-profile comedy against a Nolan film (and also the second time that Nolan has made a movie for rival studio Universal, following his nine-movie streak with WB). The first? Barbie, which memorably opened on the same day as Nolan’s Oppenheimer in July 2023.

However, Barbie and Oppenheimer were both high-budget projects that the respective studios considered tentpole blockbusters — Barbie reportedly cost $145 million, while Oppenheimer cost around $100 million.

The Odyssey, on the other hand, may have cost as much as those two films combined, with a $250 million price tag, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Cut Off, on the other hand, will reportedly cost $49 million, making it one of WB’s less-expensive ventures in 2026. The studio is also set to release Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Frankenstein riff The Bride, and possibly a third Dune movie, which will all bear significantly higher budgets than Cut Off.

With all that in mind, it’s likely that Cut Off is an attempt at counter-programming rather than a genuine challenge to The Odyssey‘s inevitable box office domination.

Wiig has not appeared in a theatrical live-action movie since 2019’s Where’d You Go, Bernadette? However, she’s set to play a villainous role in Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie, which releases in September, and has kept busy as the lead of Apple TV+’s series Palm Royale.

Hill will next appear in Outcome, a comedy he co-wrote, co-produced, and directed for Apple. The film also stars Keanu Reeves, Cameron Diaz, Matt Bomer, David Spade, and Laverne Cox.

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Wiig and Hill previously appeared in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Knocked Up, and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story together, though they played supporting roles in all three projects. They also both lent their voices to the original How to Train Your Dragon animated trilogy as well as Sausage Party.

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