Documentary/Biopic Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer

[emielaen]

Passing on that would make sense yeah, except when it’s Nolan lol. I’d take a loss on a film if it meant Nolan would get more entrenched with my studio (he might even feel he owes the studio a favour if he made a loss for them after they backed him). There’s not many Nolans around, got to fight for them.

Lol, sure sure. I think he may have been determined to leave at that point, but he'd also probably go where ever his demands were met + some good personal financial happenings. Had WB matched, maybe he stays. But in two years or so when he's shopping his next film, WB will certainly be a stop he makes. Kinda impossible to ignore lol

 

[Blade Hoarder]

WB did everything for Nolan w Tenet then he was upset about Max. But hindsight is 20/20. Passing on a $100M+ 3H R-rated biopic isn't some braindead move in the moment.

I imagine everyone will be fighting for his next project, WB and Universal being at the top.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but there is a strike going on in Hollywood and many of the issues raised echoes Nolan’s concerns with streaming. So he was proved right even more.

 

[Drizzle]

I just don't see him leaving Universal at this point, unless WBD offered him an obscene amount of money that Universal wouldn't be willing to match.

I don't even think that WB has as much money to throw around as Universal does right now given the hits they've taken from the DC movies alone. If Nolan decides to part ways with Universal, and I seriously doubt he will, I can't see him going back to WB.

 

[Iceman]

The only way is if they let his next film be attached to Barbie 2.

 

[Dr.]

‘Oppenheimer’ China Box Office Could Hit $20M Opening – Deadline

 

[flickchick85]

Holy s*** I didn’t even know it hadn’t opened yet in China. What a beast.

 

[Iceman]

‘Oppenheimer’ China Box Office Could Hit $20M Opening – Deadline

China is going to be a nice old boost by the time it’s done then. I wasn’t sure if it would be popular there (although I haven’t looked at how other Nolan films did in China).

 

[emielaen]

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but there is a strike going on in Hollywood and many of the issues raised echoes Nolan’s concerns with streaming. So he was proved right even more.

I... didn't say otherwise.

 

[BatLobster]

WB did everything for Nolan w Tenet then he was upset about Max. But hindsight is 20/20. Passing on a $100M+ 3H R-rated biopic isn't some braindead move in the moment.

I imagine everyone will be fighting for his next project, WB and Universal being at the top.

I both agree and disagree with this. While few may have predicted this level of success for Oppenheimer and I wouldn’t call it a braindead move to pass, I also think it’s demanding way too little of studios to simply make decisions that “seem safe on paper”. The Flash, Indiana Jones 5, Ant-Man 3, etc. all seemed very safe on paper before this year, and now look where we are.

The success of Oppenheimer shows that smart, well-calculated risks can pay off huge. It’s the idea of trying to give an audience what it doesn’t know it wants yet, vs. just trying to safely check the boxes. Checking the boxes is how Hollywood tends to operate, but I think movies like this are a good reminder that there smart risks you can take and there are rewards to be had when you trust a filmmaker who has something unique to offer and isn’t just trying to fit into the current trends. It’s also a great reminder that these studios absolutely need real, human creativity leading the way. And Universal/Donna Langley definitely deserves credit for recognizing all of that and placing their bets on Nolan delivering.

 

[Iceman]

I both agree and disagree with this. While few may have predicted this level of success for Oppenheimer and I wouldn’t call it a braindead move to pass, I also think it’s demanding way too little of studios to simply make decisions that “seem safe on paper”. The Flash, Indiana Jones 5, Ant-Man 3, etc. all seemed very safe on paper before this year, and now look where we are.

The success of Oppenheimer shows that smart, well-calculated risks can pay off huge. It’s the idea of trying to give an audience what it doesn’t know it wants yet, vs. just trying to safely check the boxes. Checking the boxes is how Hollywood tends to operate, but I think movies like this are a good reminder that there smart risks you can take and there are rewards to be had when you trust a filmmaker who has something unique to offer and isn’t just trying to fit into the current trends. It’s also a great reminder that these studios absolutely need real, human creativity leading the way. And Universal/Donna Langley definitely deserves credit for recognizing all of that and placing their bets on Nolan delivering.

I agree with all that. The one thing I’d say is that Nolan himself adds some degree of safety to what would otherwise be much bigger risks. Imagine this same film with an equally talented no-name director and suddenly it feels a lot more risky. If I was an exec I would happily gamble on Nolan. If you sign him up for a whole bunch of films you can expect to make decent money over the lot of them together with the overall profits making up for any individual losses. At least while he remains as passionate and dedicated as he is now.

 

[BatLobster]

I agree with all that. The one thing I’d say is that Nolan himself adds some degree of safety to what would otherwise be much bigger risks. Imagine this same film with an equally talented no-name director and suddenly it feels a lot more risky. If I was an exec I would happily gamble on Nolan. If you sign him up for a whole bunch of films you can expect to make decent money over the lot of them together with the overall profits making up for any individual losses. At least while he remains as passionate and dedicated as he is now.

Yup, actually I meant to include that originally haha, and I totally agree. That’s what I mean by “smart” risks…like it seems risky on paper, but when you look at Nolan’s track record of kind of “defying odds” with his successes, it wasn’t actually as risky as it seemed. I was thinking Oppenheimer would do numbers similar to Dunkirk and that in and itself would’ve been a very solid success, but it just happened to hit the perfect storm and outperform all expectations. So it’s a great story of having a smart gamble pay off massively.

 

[Iceman]

Yup, actually I meant to include that originally haha, and I totally agree. That’s what I mean by “smart” risks…like it seems risky on paper, but when you look at Nolan’s track record of kind of “defying odds” with his successes, it wasn’t actually as risky as it seemed. I was thinking Oppenheimer would do numbers similar to Dunkirk and that in and itself would’ve been a very solid success, but it just happened to hit the perfect storm and outperform all expectations. So it’s a great story of having a smart gamble pay off massively.

The smart part is the problem for some these execs on multimillion pound salaries. They can take regular risks or bad risks, but struggle when it comes to anything smart. I don’t know why shareholders aren’t raging - execs in non-entertainment industries seem to be held to higher standards. You can get away with anything here!

 

[Filmfreak]

China is going to be a nice old boost by the time it’s done then. I wasn’t sure if it would be popular there (although I haven’t looked at how other Nolan films did in China).

The launch day is just 35% off the Friday starts of Dunkirk and Tenet, 11% above the Wednesday debut of Interstellar, and 38% above the Monday bow of The Dark Knight Rises. Compared to other 2023 releases, this is in line with the Friday opening of Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania.

 

[Iceman]

Great, thanks for that. I look forward to Oppenheimer’s box office seeing a late surge.

 

[Kane52630]

Nolan might need to shrink the size and budget of his films, okay sure...but this feels like he’s playing it safe and wants that Oscar season gold after the blockbuster failure of Tenet. Dunkirk is the kind of film Chris excels at. I’ll change my mind if/when new details emerge, but right now this sounds like Nolan making a Darkest Hour type movie (which will play into his weaknesses).

This is going to bomb.

I’m all for the creative control part obviously but...NO other movies for 3 weeks before/after his boring biopic that’s gonna bomb? And it will bomb make no mistake (unless he gets a huge star to lead it). 100 day theatrical window he needs to be humbled.

*Nolan’s next film debuts a teaser where 4 bananas are falling from a counter in Lebanon. Matt Damon’s voice is heard “this is about to get ugly..”*

Fans lose their minds. Oh the suspense. “The theater was BOOMING” sorry guys but I don’t get it. I’ll wait for the official trailer.

 

[Blade Hoarder]

No point in quoting a banned guy. He can’t defend his points.

 

[Man in the Suit]

 

[:eek:]

Woman named Barbie Oppenheimer encounters difficulties amid Barbenheimer craze | The Independent

 

[The Joker]

No point in quoting a banned guy. He can’t defend his points.

He never could even when he was still here.

 

[Arachnerd]

Woman named Barbie Oppenheimer encounters difficulties amid Barbenheimer craze | The Independent

Reality is truly stranger than fiction. Moreso that her husband is an actual distant relative of Oppenheimer's.

 

[Filmfreak]

'Oppenheimer' Finally Overtakes 'Barbie' at the Global Box Office - Collider

Since its late July cinematic debut, Universal's Oppenheimer had been trailing behind Warner Bros' Barbie in the global box office race. However, in the sixth week of both films' release, Christopher Nolan's nuclear drama managed to surpass Greta Gerwig's toy adaptation in a single weekend, claiming the top spot on the latest worldwide box office chart.

Considering that for most weekends it made half the money that Barbie did it's a really impressive feat. Sure it still opens in new markets but those are some extraordinary legs!

 

[Dr.]

Oppenheimer is expected to pass both Inception and GotG Vol.3 at the global box office this weekend.

Barbie Becomes No. 1 Film Of 2023 Globally, Oppenheimer Tops Inception – Deadline

 

[TheVileOne]

Get woke, never go broke. Also, bumping this almost two year old tweet:

 

[Filmfreak]

Aged like milk.

 

[DarkKnight88]

Haven’t we reached a point when most people are going, “Grace who?”. She’s irrelevant.