As 2023 draws to a close, Christopher Nolan is feeling pretty good about the state of the movie business. That shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise considering “Oppenheimer” pulled in a remarkable $954 million at the box office this year, beating every superhero movie and several major Hollywood tentpoles, like “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” Audiences turning out in droves for a three-hour, R-rated and incredibly dense biographical drama as if it were a major action movie blockbuster has Nolan quite optimistic about the future.
“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,” Nolan recently told Empire magazine. “The crazy thing is that it’s literally the most successful film I’ve ever made. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and in the United Kingdom it’s my highest-grossing film. So I feel great about the state of the movie business, based on my own experience. But also based on seeing other movies break out, seeing audiences come back.”
“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,” Nolan added. “So it was wonderful to see that this year.”
Nolan experienced “Oppenheimer’s” power over moviegoers firsthand by sneaking into screenings of the movie on opening weekend.
“Emma [Thomas, Nolan’s producer and wife] and I went into the back of Lincoln Square, which has a giant IMAX screen where you can still play 70mm film,” Nolan said. “And there were two screens – one five-perf 70mm, one 15-perf – and we went from one to the other. When we walked into the back of the IMAX screen, it was just as the Trinity test was coming to its conclusion. It was absolutely packed; every seat was filled. To be in the back of that theatre in that moment of silence, before the sound washes over the audience… you could hear a pin drop. It was a really remarkable experience. Quite overwhelming, really.”
The humungous box office numbers for “Oppenheimer” have made other top directors optimistic as well. Speaking to PvNew, “La La Land” Oscar winner and “Babylon” filmmaker Damien Chazelle said: “Not only did ‘Oppenheimer’ work, but it seemed to work in defiance of received wisdom. Before I even saw the film, it felt like one of those test-case scenarios. All around the industry, a lot of people were saying, ‘This is not what the audience wants — it’s a bummer, and they just want escapism.’ And they were all wrong. So that makes its success all the sweeter.”
“Where it is right now has blown the roof off of my projection,” “Dune” director Denis Villeneuve told theAssociated Press. “It’s a three-hour movie about people talking about nuclear physics…There’s this notion that movies, in some people’s minds, became content instead of an art form. I hate that word, ‘content.’ That movies like ‘Oppenheimer’ are released on the big screen and become an event brings back a spotlight on the idea that it’s a tremendous art form that needs to be experienced in theaters.”
“Oppenheimer” is now available to rent or buy on VOD and digital platforms.
