The Big Picture Nearly nine months after its global release and seven Academy Awards later, director Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer debuted this weekend amid trigger warnings in its final major market, Japan. It was an occasion marked by an understandable and necessary gravity, considering the film’s subject matter and Japan’s role in the life story of theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, widely known as the “father of the atomic bomb.
Despite Universal’s best efforts, Oppenheimercouldn’t crack the coveted $1 billion mark at the global box office but remains the third-biggest film of Nolan’s career, behind The Dark Knight Rises and The Dark Knight. It also finished as the third-biggest movie of 2023, behind Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and fellow Universal release, the animated blockbuster Super Mario Bros. Movie.
The filmmaker explained his creative choices regarding the bombings in an interview with Variety, explaining, “Oppenheimer heard about the bombing at the same time that the rest of the world did. I wanted to show somebody who is starting to gain a clearer picture of the unintended consequences of his actions. It was as much about what I don't show as what I show.”