Christopher Nolan Says Oppenheimer's Success Signifies a "Post-Franchise" Movie Landscape

Christopher Nolan explains why Oppenheimer's box office success is "encouraging."

By Jamie Jirak

2023 was an interesting year at the box office. No one could have predicted that Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan's three-hour biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer, would end up making $956,151,295 worldwide and becoming the third-highest-grossing movie of the year. In addition to being a box office success, the film scored 13 Academy Award nominations, including ones for Best Picture and Best Director. With the Oscars just around the corner and awards season in full swing, Nolan has been doing press for the movie and talking about the current state of the film industry. During a recent appearance on the Countdown to the BAFTAs podcast, Nolan talked about how the success of Oppenheimer could point to a "post-franchise" shift in Hollywood. 

"Everybody has a tendency to talk down the movie business," Nolan explained. "Really for the whole time I think I've been working in movies, I felt the sort of cultural establishment always predicting the demise of movie theaters. Now I get asked that question, you know, 'What do I think about the health of the movie business?' I don't really know how to respond. We just released a three-hour, R-rated film about quantum physics and it made a billion dollars. Like what? Obviously, our view is that the audience is there and they're excited to see something new."

"The success of Oppenheimer certainly points to a sort of, post-IP landscape for movies ... It's kind of encouraging," he continued. "It reminds the studios that there is an appetite for something people haven't seen before or an approach to things that people haven't seen before." 

"Something like Oppenheimer working gives other filmmakers a point of reference for how something can work in the marketplace that the studio can relate to," he added.  

Of course, Nolan is no stranger to franchises. He directed The Dark Knight trilogy, which just began streaming on a new platform. 

Christopher Nolan On Recreating The Trinity Test:

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Nolan reacted to fans thinking he took such extreme measures to get his movie made.

"It's flattering that people would think I would be capable of something as extreme as that on the one hand, but it's also a little bit scary," Nolan shared. 

"I think recreating the Trinity test without the use of computer graphics, was a huge challenge to take on," Nolan previously told Total Film. "Andrew Jackson – my visual effects supervisor, I got him on board early on – was looking at how we could do a lot of the visual elements of the film practically, from representing quantum dynamics and quantum physics to the Trinity test itself, to recreating, with my team, Los Alamos up on a mesa in New Mexico in extraordinary weather, a lot of which was needed for the film, in terms of the very harsh conditions out there – there were huge practical challenges." 

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"It's a story of immense scope and scale," Nolan added. "And one of the most challenging projects I've ever taken on in terms of the scale of it, and in terms of encountering the breadth of Oppenheimer's story. There were big, logistical challenges, big practical challenges. But I had an extraordinary crew, and they really stepped up. It will be a while before we're finished. But certainly as I watch the results come in, and as I'm putting the film together, I'm thrilled with what my team has been able to achieve."

Are you rooting for Oppenheimer this awards season? Tell us in the comments!  

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