Oppenheimer Box Office Opening Is Bigger Than Inception, Interstellar And All But 3 Nolan Movies -TGN

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• Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s latest film, had an impressive opening weekend and grossed $80.5 million domestically.

• The star-studded ensemble cast and storyline surrounding physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the atomic bomb have drawn large audiences.

• This is Nolan’s highest-grossing opening weekend for a film outside of the Dark Knight trilogy, surpassing the earnings of Interstellar and Inception.

Oppenheimer scored a huge opening weekend for director Christopher Nolan. The movie, which is his first since his 2020 sci-fi epic Basic principleopens in theaters July 21. With a huge cast that includes Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Gary Oldman and many more, it follows the life of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Murphy) and the creation of the atomic bomb.

Per Varietythe Oppenheimer box office pulled in a staggering opening weekend domestic gross of $80.5 million. While this still led to the film opening at No. 2 behind the smash hit Barbieit’s the best opening weekend for a Christoper Nolan movie outside of his own Dark Knight trilogy. It beat the opening weekends of his previous hits Interstellar ($47.5 million) and Start ($62.7 million) by a significant margin.

Why is Oppenheimer doing so well?

One curious thing about Oppenheimer‘s blockbuster success is the fact that it doesn’t necessarily seem like a strong commercial prospect. A biopic about a physicist that lasts almost three hours and contains many sequences shot in black and white is not necessarily a guaranteed summer hit. However, there are quite a few factors that contributed to its rise to the top of Nolan’s filmography.

The first and probably most important factor in its success is the release of Barbie. While the Barbie cashier trumped OppenheimerWith an opening weekend north of $150 million, it grossed, but the fact that both movies were released on the same weekend led to a cavalcade of memes that lumped the diametrically opposite titles together, which helped boost publicity for both. Oppenheimer was presented as a counter-programming to or a perfect double feature with Barbieallowing it to succeed in a way it might not have if it was the only release of the weekend.

Oppenheimer also succeeded thanks to Nolan himself. The director has become a huge brand name on his own merits whether or not he works with an established IP like he did with the Dark Knight trilogy. Thanks to his penchant for epic high-concept films with A-list ensemble casts, his approach to Oppenheimer’s life probably intrigued more viewers than a straightforward biopic would if directed by a more professional director.

Source: Variety