Oppenheimer Breaks Impressive Streaming Record Held by Super Mario Bros. Movie

Oppenheimer passed The Super Mario Bros. Movie for a massive streaming record on Peacock got underway. On the NBC Universal streaming service, Oppenheimer is now the most-watched opening weekend in Peacock's existence. That means that a lot of people were locked-in for Christopher Nolan's latest movie. Peacock has not made the individual numbers available. But, considering the anticipation for The Super Mario Bros. Movie hitting the streaming service, that would have to be quite a lot. Especially when you take into consideration that the animated film is a family adventure themed around Nintendo's mascot.

There was a bit of a wait for Oppenheimer to hit streaming. Existing agreements between NBCUniversal and HBO have given way to their movies premiering on their own platform. Asa result, the first four months of a NBCUniversal movie's streaming availability belong to Peacock alone. (There are still people wondering when The Super Mario Bros. Movie will hit Netflix…) On the Oppenheimer font, fans already had to wait seven months for the movie to hit Peacock and the wait for other services will be lengthy as well. Nolan has so much to be elated about with the project that keeps on giving.

Oppenheimer's Success Opens Doors

The latest Christopher Nolan movie has proved to be a bit of a Rorschach test for audiences and observers alike. Is this the "adult cinema" that will be the new normal or is this just a blip and it will be back to usual. The director himself argued that Oppenheimer might have been the tip of the iceberg for a "post-IP" approach to cinema. He joined the Countdown to the BAFTAs podcast to discuss the success of his movie. While those claims might be a bit out there. (He shares a top 5 ladder at the 2023 box office with Barbie and Super Mario after all.) Originality is going to be key going forward.

"Everybody has a tendency to talk down the movie business," Nolan told the site. "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," the director added. "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 concluded.  

How Good Is Oppenheimer?

There's no denying that Oppenheimer made quite the splash at theaters. The movie was discussed as a triumph among critics and audiences together. Comicbook.com's Patrick Cavanaugh praised the Nolan picture in his review. Our critic said that the story showed off the best of humanity alongside some moments that were genuinely harrowing to consider.

"Whether it be murder mysteries like Memento and Insomnia, his work in the superhero genre with three Batman films, or his more ambitious experiments like Inception and Tenet, there are few contemporary directors who can captivate an audience like Christopher Nolan," Cavanaugh said. "No matter what the subject matter might be, the scripts he brings to life, the pacing of his cuts, and the intensity of his performers make for experiences that you can't look away from. Even though many audiences might know J. Robert Oppenheimer for his connection to the atomic bomb (which the explosion-filled marketing campaigns continue to remind us about), the actual experience of the film is hardly concerned with such a monumental development."

Have you watched Oppenheimer at home yet? Let us know down in the comments!