Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” keeps climbing at the box office with more than $900 million in global ticket sales to date.
Over the weekend, the R-rated historical drama added $12.8 million globally, including $10.7 million overseas and $2.1 million domestically. After nine weeks of release, “Oppenehimer” has grossed a staggering $910 million worldwide, with $318 million from North American theaters and $594 million internationally.
“For ‘Oppenheimer’ to cross the $900 million global mark after just nine weeks in theaters is a remarkable achievement,” says Paul Dergarabedian, a senior Comscore analyst. “It shows how an amazing film with a superstar director and a star-studded cast can turn a three-hour historical epic into a blockbuster mainstream hit.”
“Oppenheimer,” starring Cillian Murphy as the so-called “father of the atomic bomb,” continues to crush expectations and stands as the third-highest grossing release of the year behind “Barbie” ($1.41 billion) and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” ($1.36 billion). At this rate, the $1 billion benchmark isn’t out of the question — but it would require “Oppenheimer” to continue playing in theaters for several more weeks. (Awards attention and theatrical re-releases would help as well.)
“Those last few miles of any theatrical run are the toughest,” Dergarabedian adds. “But at this point, […] it’s a total winner no matter the ultimate outcome.”
Whether it hits that rare milestone, the $100 million-budgeted film is already hugely profitable for Universal and Nolan. It’s the director’s third-biggest movie ever, behind “The Dark Knight” ($1 billion) and “The Dark Knight Rises” ($1.08 billion). As for Universal, it’s the studio’s biggest non-franchise film of all time and 12th-highest grossing film in history ahead of “The Secret Life of Pets” ($894 million).
Nolan used Imax cameras to film “Oppenheimer,” and the final product has been hugely popular on the company’s premium format screens — especially the 70mm prints. It became one of the top-five highest grossing Imax titles ever with $180 million globally, trailing only “Avatar,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Avengers: Endgame.”
Nolan adapted “Oppenheimer” from the Pulitzer Prize-winning book “American Prometheus.” The somber biographical epic follows the American theoretical physicist who led the development of the atomic bomb, which helped to end World War II. The cast includes Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh and Alden Ehrenreich.
