Oppenheimer Proves Christopher Nolan Is One Of The All-Time Best Box Office Bets
It is absolutely no secret that Christopher Nolan is a beloved and respected filmmaker. We're talking about the man who made "The Dark Knight" for heaven's sake. Few people have ever managed to marry blockbuster filmmaking with artistic expression quite like him, save for a select handful such as Steven Spielberg and a few choice others. He's a rare breed and, with "Oppenheimer," the man has arguably cemented himself as one of the very best box office bets we have today — if not ever. This is not hyperbole either, as Nolan pretty much only makes big ass hits, save for a couple of caveats across his career, which has spanned well over two decades at this point.
Even against remarkably huge competition from "Barbie," Nolan's latest pulled in $82 million on its opening weekend domestically to go with $97.7 million internationally for a $180.1 million global debut. Even against a $100 million budget, that represents a huge win for Universal Pictures, especially because "Oppenheimer" will almost certainly be in the awards season conversation later this year, if not a shoo-in for the Best Picture nomination at the Oscars. It also ranks as one of the biggest R-rated openings ever, just behind "The Passion of the Christ" ($83.8 million), narrowly missing the top 10.
"Oppenheimer" now represents Nolan's biggest opening weekend ever for a movie of his that doesn't have Batman in it. Yes, it somehow managed to out-perform the likes of "Inception" ($62 million opening) and "Dunkirk" ($50.5 million opening), despite the fact that those were seemingly better commercial bets. A three-hour biopic about the guy who made the A-bomb that is mostly people talking and doing science isn't quite as flashy as a full-stop World War II movie or a mind-bending, mind-heist flick. But that speaks volumes about Nolan's credibility with the moviegoing public.
A ridiculous track record
The fact of the matter is that this is just par for the course for Nolan at this point. Particularly since delivering a $1 billion smash hit with "The Dark Knight" 15 years ago, the man has been on an absolute tear that was only briefly interrupted by a pandemic. Even that didn't totally stop him, as "Tenet" made $363 million when people were still mostly staying home at the height of Covid in 2020. One imagines that movie would have made a whole lot more had Warner Bros. and/or Nolan waited to release it until marketplace conditions improved. But there's also something to be said about him trying to keep theaters afloat during a downright terrible time.
Nolan is currently the eighth highest-grossing director in history, with his dozen feature films raking in more than $5.1 billion worldwide. He sits just ahead of J.J. Abrams and just behind David Yates, but Nolan doesn't have seven "Harry Potter" movies under his belt to goose his total. Yes, he's got his "Dark Knight" trilogy, but the most impressive thing about Nolan's resume at this point is that he's accomplished so much of this with hit blockbuster originals, much like he's doing right now with "Oppenheimer."
At the very top of the list is Steven Spielberg, with $10.6 billion to his name, but that's across 36 movies. Other names in the top 10 include Peter Jackson ("The Lord of the Rings"), Joe and Anthony Russo ("Avengers: Endgame"), and Michael Bay ("Transformers"). All of them have more franchise films under their belts. Nolan stands out.
Nolan's greatest hits
After scoring one of the biggest hits in history with "The Dark Knight," Nolan followed that up with an ambitious (and expensive) original sci-fi thriller in "Inception." Despite having a potentially tough concept to execute and sell, the movie was an absolute smash hit, taking in $825.7 million worldwide and earning a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars. Nolan would follow that up with "The Dark Knight Rises," which earned $1.08 billion and was DC's biggest movie ever at the time, but he's yet to make another franchise film since.
Next was "Interstellar" which, on the surface, had a sellable concept but proved to be a pretty heady, emotional trip. Audiences again turned out in droves, with the film making $647.8 million against a $165 million budget. In other words, another home run. What next? How about a World War II movie telling three parts of the same story from three different timelines in the form of "Dunkirk." $150 million budget, $512.3 million at the box office. Nolan is simply unstoppable. "Tenet," released under better circumstances, would have undoubtedly kept this amazing hot streak going.
Even his earlier, more modestly budgeted films such as "The Prestige" ($104 million/$40 million budget) are damn respectable. Plain and simple, Christopher Nolan does not miss. He budgets reasonably for the film at hand and audiences trust him almost implicitly now. If there's a safer filmmaker to bet on working today at this scale, and at this level of consistency, I'm struggling to find them. Sure, James Cameron knocks it out of the park every time, but we're lucky to get a movie from him once a decade at this point. Nolan is doing it every two or three years. That's impressive.
"Oppenheimer" is in theaters now.