According to the Hollywood Reporter, Christopher Nolan's earnings for "Dunkirk": $20 million upfront and 20% of the gross. The most lucrative deal since Peter Jackson's equal earnings for "King Kong." Nolan has a very large and loyal fanbase, the biggest of any mainstream director I can think of. He also enormous power in terms of creative freedom, which could be a blessing and a curse at times, especially if you've seen his flawed, but fascinating 2014 Science Fiction opera "Interstellar."
Which other mainstream filmmaker get this kind of dough for a film ? The answer is not many. The article goes on to say that "even a director as esteemed as David Fincher can find himself getting nickeled and dimed when a studio is less certain of a project’s future; Fincher lost "Steve Jobs" to Danny Boyle because he wouldn’t back down from his $10 million asking price (plus, he wanted control of marketing).
Esteemed doesn't really mean as much as the bottom line. Fincher's films don't make that much money. Nolan's most definitely do rack it up. Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson, Michael Bay, Ron Howard and Robert Zemeckis are probably right up there with him in that elite list of directors.
As per The Playlist, "Dunkirk" "is inspired by Operation Dynamo, the near-miraculous evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) and other Allied troops from the French seaport of Dunkirk, which took place from May-June of 1940. Hoyte van Hoytema ("Interstellar") is lensing the picture, with Hans Zimmer providing the score."
Production has just wrapped up and set for a Summer 2017 release date.