Who would have thought that in the world of cinematic universes and franchises, an R-rated biopic will turn out to be the third highest grossing film of the year. Rejoice! Cinema isn’t dead. Christopher Nolan’s latest venture Oppenheimer has set the summer box office on fire as the film refuses to slow down. The film released back in July, is still minting more money than new releases. I don’t know whether it was the Barbenheimer trend or Christopher Nolan’s craze, but the Cillian Murphy starrer had immense support from the audiences right from the get go. The film has achieved such records that even the makers wouldn’t have dreamed of. That being said, there is still one milestone that eludes the Christopher Nolan directorial – will it cross the $1 billion mark?
Can Christopher Nolan Create History With Oppenheimer?
After 11 weeks of theatrical release, Oppenheimer’s worldwide box office collection stands at $933.8 million. Out of which only $322.4 million has come from US and Canada (domestic markets). The biographical drama has found a greater audience in international markets like India and China. Oppenheimer’s India collection is above ₹150 crores which roughly converts to $18 million. In China, the blockbuster has grossed over $58.1 million culminating in a massive international haul of $611.3 million.
The film is now the highest grossing biopic ever beating Bohemian Rhapsody (2018). Since, the film has massively overperformed everyone’s expectations, it begs the question whether Oppenheimer will also cross the $1 billion mark? Considering that Oppenheimer’s VOD and Online release won’t open till November, it is clear that the film will keep running in theatres till then. However, even if I’m being optimistic there is no chance that Oppenheimer will achieve $1 billion. The film would end its box office run with somewhere over $950 million.
This is because except China, Oppenheimer isn’t playing in theatres anywhere else in the world anymore. A few weeks more and after that the film won’t be able to milk more off China. Also, as October begins it brings too much competition for Oppenheimer in the form of The Exorcist: Believer, Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie, Saw X, The Creator, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour and Killers of the Flower Moon. If the Nolan flick ever re-releases then there are chances that Oppenheimer will touch $1 billion.
This summer has been crazy. Barbie and Oppenheimer released at a time when summer 2023 ticket sales were down 7% from the same time in 2022 after films like The Flash and Mission Impossible 7: Dead Reckoning Part One underperformed at the box office. Since the beginning of “Barbenheimer,” the summer gross drastically improved, with the tally now standing $4.028 billion, the most since the summer of 2019, which hit $4.34 billion thanks, in part, to The Lion King and Spider-Man: Far From Home, which each eclipsed the billion-dollar mark globally. Both the blockbusters have triggered a spike in ticket sales by 16.6% helping Hollywood to go back to pre-pandemic levels for the first time in 4 years
The story of Oppenheimer is adapted from Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer will be the first film to be shot in B/W and IMAX. The film is made on a hefty budget of $185 Million. The film basically has half of Hollywood in it including Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid, Matthew Modine, Alden Ehrenreich, David Krumholtz, Kenneth Branagh, Gary Oldman, Casey Affleck and Michael Angarano.
The World Is Changing in theatres near you.
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