“Oppenheimer” Has Reached Another Milestone for Christopher Nolan
By now, it’s understood that Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, forever linked thanks to their simultaneous premiere dates as the box office phenomenon Barbenheimer, is likely the biggest positive story of the year in cinema. With the writer’s strike officially over and the actor’s guild meeting with the studios again today to restart negotiations, one hopes we can focus on yet more positive news in the coming days and weeks. For Nolan, the news about his masterpiece just keeps getting better and better, as Oppenheimer continues to reach milestones that even he might not have dared to dream when he was creating his rich, nuanced, three-hour-long biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), the father of the atomic bomb.
Oppenheimer has now made a staggering $611 million at the domestic box office, a huge haul for a movie about such a complicated figure that includes no superheroes and was based on no widely beloved intellectual property. As astonishing as the number is, it’s also what the film is doing overseas that is so impressive. Oppenheimer is now the highest-grossing film in Nolan’s career in 64 international markets, fueling it to $933 million at the worldwide box office and counting. While it might just miss reaching the billion-dollar threshold, Oppenheimer is a massive hit by every metric. A long, oft-technical, complicated movie about a historic figure many people knew little about is not supposed to be the type of movie that enchants audiences all over the globe, but such is the power of Nolan’s cinematic voice, and the incredible work of his talented cast and crew, that it’s done just that.
Producer Emma Thomas has already said that we won’t be seeing Oppenheimer on VOD or streaming until sometime in late November, meaning there’s still some theatrical runway left for the film. Nolan has long been a major supporter of the 70mm format, which, of course, can only be seen on a very big screen, so Oppenheimer continues to play at venues that can screen his film in that format, like New York City’s AMC Lincoln Square, which has its IMAX 70mm screen. If you still haven’t seen the film, or if you haven’t yet seen it in 70mm and have a theater capable near you, you’ve still got time.
For more on Oppenheimer, check out these stories:
“Oppenheimer” Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema on Making History With Christopher Nolan
“Oppenheimer” Production Designer Ruth De Jong on Helping Christopher Nolan Build the Bomb
“Oppenheimer”: Character Actor David Dastmalchian Doesn’t Want to Disappoint
Christopher Nolan on Exploding Myths & Exposing Humanity in “Oppenheimer”
Featured image: L to R: Cillian Murphy (as J. Robert Oppenheimer) and writer, director, and producer Christopher Nolan on the set of OPPENHEIMER.
