Christopher Nolan Shares ‘The Crazy Thing’ About Oppenheimer’s Box Office Dominance And How He Feels About Movies Still Going To Theaters

The Success of Oppenheimer: A Win for Movie Theaters

In an age where streaming services are becoming increasingly popular, Christopher Nolan remains a staunch supporter of the traditional movie-going experience. This year, his film Oppenheimer has brought in massive audiences to theaters, achieving box office dominance. Nolan recently shared his thoughts on the success of Oppenheimer and how he feels about the continued allure of theaters.

The historical biopic, which tells the story of “the father of the atomic bomb,” has become a massive hit, grossing over $900 million and becoming the third highest-grossing movie of the year.

Nolan, the director of Oppenheimer, expressed his pride in the film’s success and revealed a surprising realization about it. He said, “I’ve just made a three-hour film about Robert Oppenheimer which is R-rated and half in black-and-white – and it made a billion dollars. Of course I think films are doing great. The crazy thing is that it’s literally the most successful film I’ve ever made.”

As someone with 20 years of experience in the industry, Nolan’s claim that Oppenheimer is his highest-grossing film in the United Kingdom speaks volumes about the state of the movie business. He believes that the success of his film, along with the breakouts of other movies and the return of audiences to theaters, reflects positively on the industry.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, movie theaters faced closures, leading audiences to rely on streaming services to watch movies from the comfort of their homes. However, the release of Oppenheimer coincided with another highly anticipated film, Barbenheimer, resulting in a cultural phenomenon. People flocked to theaters for double feature screenings, which greatly boosted ticket sales for theaters like AMC. It became a unique back-to-back movie-going experience, and Barbenheimer dominated the box office with the fourth-largest opening weekend in movie history.

Although Oppenheimer could have been watched at home through streaming services, Christopher Nolan believes that there are certain films that are meant to be seen on the big screen. He explained, “The audience’s desire to be surprised, to see something new, to see something they did not know they wanted, that’s always been the most powerful force in theatrical film. So it was wonderful to see that this year.”

Oppenheimer has achieved remarkable international success, surpassing the gross of The Dark Knight in various countries. It broke records for Nolan in Italy, Greece, France, Germany, and Spain. These achievements underscore the audiences’ irresistible urge to witness the atomic explosion depicted in Oppenheimer on a massive screen, an experience that cannot be replicated at home.

Christopher Nolan has always been vocal about the importance of movie theaters. He has warned that the theater-going experience needs to be valued, or else people will turn to television to watch films. He strongly believes that releasing a big movie on television would diminish its impact. Nolan even called upon Congress to save movie theaters during the pandemic, fearing their demise.

As soon as movie theaters started reopening in Los Angeles, Christopher Nolan wasted no time in relishing the experience of the silver screen. He attended the reopening, although the movie he watched remains unknown. For him, seeing the seats filled with an engaged audience during the opening night of Oppenheimer was a touching moment. The film’s box office records serve as a testament to its status as Nolan’s highest-grossing film. Audiences didn’t wait for the movie to arrive on streaming platforms because there are moments that simply have to be experienced the way the filmmaker intended. Oppenheimer is currently available for digital rental.