Box Office

The upcoming epic thriller based on J. Robert Oppenheimer, the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it.
Posts: 402
Joined: April 2022
DylanHoang wrote:
April 30th, 2022, 8:56 pm
EOLB wrote:
April 30th, 2022, 8:37 pm
Tarssauce wrote:
April 30th, 2022, 7:58 pm
Same comments were made about Dunkirk before it came out. A summer release ended up being very fitting and the movie did well.

I keep saying this over and over: Everyone assumes it’s a straight up biopic, but we haven’t read the screenplay and we don’t know how he’ll approach the story.
The studio described it as a thriller too. So, I'm not expecting your average biographical drama.
Universal Pictures is distributing “Oppenheimer,” which the studio describes as an “epic thriller that thrusts audiences into the pulse-pounding paradox of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it.”
https://variety.com/2021/film/news/robe ... 235102846/
One has to assume that they guy who gave us Inception + Interstellar (not your average sci-fi) and Dunkirk (not your average war film) is also going to subvert expectations with a biopic, in the best way possible.
He'll probably rattle the wartime paranoia and secrecy up too to keep it spicy. That television show 'Manhattan' did it too.

But I agree with radewart. Unless he includes something from Pearl Harbor or World War II, this film should only have three action sequences at best: Trinity, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And it's very possible these sequences are the ones in black and white. All the existent footage is in black and white too, right?

User avatar
Posts: 685
Joined: November 2019
radewart wrote:
April 30th, 2022, 8:15 pm
A Borges man wrote:
April 30th, 2022, 8:01 pm
radewart wrote:
April 30th, 2022, 7:27 pm
I think it's more that late July is usually prime box office real estate for big Hollywood Blockbusters, it's been good to Nolan in the past, but is Oppenheimer really that type of movie? It may be better suited to be an awards player...doing the early fall film festivals or release in limited in December for qualifying run and expand in January.
Like Dunkirk, I think Nolan's and studios' logic is that putting a potential award race contender in summer is counter programming, because as dangerous as the other movies look for Oppie's box office, all those movies are typical summer movies,it might be to Nolan's benefit.
Yes, while a critical and awards player, Dunkirk as a war movie, had an action element to it with the battle scenes to sell it to summer mainstream audiences. Is Oppenheimer going to have enough of that to compete and not be overwhelmed by the big, showy fx-filled pictures being released around it?

Also, to be clear, I'm not criticizing Oppenheimer overall as a project. I think it has potential to be a really great movie and am looking forward to it, I just wonder if that's the best release date.
Right, we'll have to find out about how it will compete with the blockbusters, because as has been pointed out, the "spectacle" if we can call it that, is going to be limited, or contained to those big moments, while the rest of the movie is going to be, once again if Nolan is adapting the book "American Prometheus" a historical epic that spends most of its time in academic, military and political spaces, with a lot of men smoking in rooms talking. I can't imagine this thing as a pure "thriller" especially if it is an adaptation of the book. But, looking at the cast and what we know about the scale of production, this will have a scope that is massive, with many moving pieces.

I'm very curious about the biopic vs. thriller elements here. I'm assuming Nolan is focusing on Oppenhiemer the man, not necessarily just the Manhattan project.

User avatar
Oku
Posts: 3759
Joined: May 2012
EOLB wrote:
April 30th, 2022, 9:41 pm
DylanHoang wrote:
April 30th, 2022, 8:56 pm
EOLB wrote:
April 30th, 2022, 8:37 pm

The studio described it as a thriller too. So, I'm not expecting your average biographical drama.


https://variety.com/2021/film/news/robe ... 235102846/
One has to assume that they guy who gave us Inception + Interstellar (not your average sci-fi) and Dunkirk (not your average war film) is also going to subvert expectations with a biopic, in the best way possible.
He'll probably rattle the wartime paranoia and secrecy up too to keep it spicy. That television show 'Manhattan' did it too.

But I agree with radewart. Unless he includes something from Pearl Harbor or World War II, this film should only have three action sequences at best: Trinity, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And it's very possible these sequences are the ones in black and white. All the existent footage is in black and white too, right?
The film should really only have one (Trinity). Hiroshima and Nagasaki should be mentioned, debated, and brooded over, but never directly seen. This is called Oppenheimer, after all, not The Bomb.

A Borges man wrote:
April 30th, 2022, 11:46 pm
radewart wrote:
April 30th, 2022, 8:15 pm
A Borges man wrote:
April 30th, 2022, 8:01 pm


Like Dunkirk, I think Nolan's and studios' logic is that putting a potential award race contender in summer is counter programming, because as dangerous as the other movies look for Oppie's box office, all those movies are typical summer movies,it might be to Nolan's benefit.
Yes, while a critical and awards player, Dunkirk as a war movie, had an action element to it with the battle scenes to sell it to summer mainstream audiences. Is Oppenheimer going to have enough of that to compete and not be overwhelmed by the big, showy fx-filled pictures being released around it?

Also, to be clear, I'm not criticizing Oppenheimer overall as a project. I think it has potential to be a really great movie and am looking forward to it, I just wonder if that's the best release date.
Right, we'll have to find out about how it will compete with the blockbusters, because as has been pointed out, the "spectacle" if we can call it that, is going to be limited, or contained to those big moments, while the rest of the movie is going to be, once again if Nolan is adapting the book "American Prometheus" a historical epic that spends most of its time in academic, military and political spaces, with a lot of men smoking in rooms talking. I can't imagine this thing as a pure "thriller" especially if it is an adaptation of the book. But, looking at the cast and what we know about the scale of production, this will have a scope that is massive, with many moving pieces.

I'm very curious about the biopic vs. thriller elements here. I'm assuming Nolan is focusing on Oppenhiemer the man, not necessarily just the Manhattan project.
That's what I'm curious about as well.

I mean, the book is your standard, all-encompassing, exhaustive biography, right? I imagine that it didn't win a Pulitzer for Best-Edge-of-Your-Seat-Thrills, but for being meticulously researched and a thoroughly detailed look into everything you could possibly want to know about the man.

So why make the movie an adaptation of this book?

Is the movie a (reasonably) faithful adaptation? 'Cause in that case it ends up being your standard, A-to-Z, unmemorable biopic, of which there are thousands.

Or is it an adaptation in name only, where he decided to tear it all up to make a radical, innovative biopic the likes of which we've never seen before?

In that case, that would only raise the question of why he decided to make an adaptation that bears such little resemblance to the book that it's adapting, when instead he could easily just have written an original screenplay and merely used the book as one of myriad research sources.

I mean, it's not like this is fictional IP to which he absolutely had to acquire the rights in order to use it. No, he didn't have to acquire the rights to this specific book to make a movie about Mr. Oppenheimer. But he did. My question is why.

-

And as for the argument that it should move to an awards-friendly release date closer to Oscar season...he's not making this for awards. Awards are a complete non-factor on this.

Posts: 402
Joined: April 2022
Oku wrote:
May 1st, 2022, 6:17 am
EOLB wrote:
April 30th, 2022, 9:41 pm
DylanHoang wrote:
April 30th, 2022, 8:56 pm


One has to assume that they guy who gave us Inception + Interstellar (not your average sci-fi) and Dunkirk (not your average war film) is also going to subvert expectations with a biopic, in the best way possible.
He'll probably rattle the wartime paranoia and secrecy up too to keep it spicy. That television show 'Manhattan' did it too.

But I agree with radewart. Unless he includes something from Pearl Harbor or World War II, this film should only have three action sequences at best: Trinity, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And it's very possible these sequences are the ones in black and white. All the existent footage is in black and white too, right?
The film should really only have one (Trinity). Hiroshima and Nagasaki should be mentioned, debated, and brooded over, but never directly seen. This is called Oppenheimer, after all, not The Bomb.
It's possible, but it will be interesting to see how he frames the narrative. We don't know yet if it will only stick to Robert's perspective from start to finish.
Oku wrote:
May 1st, 2022, 6:17 am
And as for the argument that it should move to an awards-friendly release date closer to Oscar season...he's not making this for awards. Awards are a complete non-factor on this.
Hmmm... I'm not sure if I believe it. I don't think he's done 'Dunkirk' or 'Oppenheimer' only for awards, but he's obviously aware there's a big chance of the Academy responding to a historical drama, which is way more conventional than the rest of his output.

User avatar
Posts: 1024
Joined: November 2018
EOLB wrote:
May 1st, 2022, 8:52 am
Oku wrote:
May 1st, 2022, 6:17 am
EOLB wrote:
April 30th, 2022, 9:41 pm

He'll probably rattle the wartime paranoia and secrecy up too to keep it spicy. That television show 'Manhattan' did it too.

But I agree with radewart. Unless he includes something from Pearl Harbor or World War II, this film should only have three action sequences at best: Trinity, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And it's very possible these sequences are the ones in black and white. All the existent footage is in black and white too, right?
The film should really only have one (Trinity). Hiroshima and Nagasaki should be mentioned, debated, and brooded over, but never directly seen. This is called Oppenheimer, after all, not The Bomb.
It's possible, but it will be interesting to see how he frames the narrative. We don't know yet if it will only stick to Robert's perspective from start to finish.
Oku wrote:
May 1st, 2022, 6:17 am
And as for the argument that it should move to an awards-friendly release date closer to Oscar season...he's not making this for awards. Awards are a complete non-factor on this.
Hmmm... I'm not sure if I believe it. I don't think he's done 'Dunkirk' or 'Oppenheimer' only for awards, but he's obviously aware there's a big chance of the Academy responding to a historical drama, which is way more conventional than the rest of his output.
The academy responding to a historical drama is just collateral, i have never believed that Chris pursues a project for any reason other than being compelled to make it for its own sake.

Posts: 402
Joined: April 2022
I'm not saying it's some primary motivation and 'Oppenheimer' has been a passion project for a while if I'm not mistaken, but I can't really believe it never crossed his mind.

User avatar
Oku
Posts: 3759
Joined: May 2012
It crossed his mind the same way that it crosses your mind to eat the wax fruit on your countertop near dinnertime

Posts: 402
Joined: April 2022
Oku wrote:
May 16th, 2022, 12:43 pm
It crossed his mind the same way that it crosses your mind to eat the wax fruit on your countertop near dinnertime
You're getting weirdly defensive about it.

He knows what happened the last time he did an historical drama. This one is biographical on top of it.

Don't worry, though. I don't think it's what's getting him out of his bed every morning.

User avatar
Posts: 2409
Joined: March 2010
Location: Texas
Oku wrote:
April 30th, 2022, 3:16 pm
Ace wrote:
April 29th, 2022, 3:11 pm
Marvel has now moved the sequel for Captain Marvel to the week after Oppenheimer instead of Ant-Man 3.
That's a big deal in terms of affecting Oppenheimer's IMAX release.

Because look at this (slide 9): https://imaxcorporation.gcs-web.com/sta ... b13bf9b2c4

Notice the conspicuous absence of Ant-Man 3 on that line-up, which suggests that IMAX was ready to forgo/downsize an IMAX release for Ant-Man 3 in favor of giving Oppenheimer a longer IMAX run.

And that lines up with precedent. That would give Oppenheimer roughly a month of IMAX exclusivity before Blue Beetle in August, similar to the one that, say, Dunkirk got in 2017.

Now I don't imagine giving up MCU money is easy, but Ant-Man movies have always been on the lower grossing side of the franchise, so if IMAX had to downsize on any MCU film, it makes sense that that would be the one.

Not to mention, as far as I'm aware, Ant-Man 3 has not been filmed with digital IMAX cameras, so IMAX loses no real 'investment' on the technical front, either.

But the Ant-Man 3 and The Marvels release date swap completely changes the dynamics of all that.

Captain Marvel grossed $1.1 billion, which is nearly double what Ant-Man 2 made. No sane company would downsize on the what is sure to be easy profit of a sequel to a billion dollar movie.

And unlike Ant-Man 3, The Marvels has been filmed entirely with digital IMAX cameras, which I imagine guarantees a lengthy IMAX window and heavy promotion.

Now that's a one-two wallop of a punch if I've ever seen one.

There's no way Oppenheimer only gets one week of IMAX exclusivity when IMAX was all but prepared to drop Ant-Man 3 to give Oppenheimer an entire month. But at the same time, now that The Marvels has taken Ant-Man 3's place, there's also no way that The Marvels is not getting a big IMAX release and heavy IMAX promotion either.

Something's got to give, and it won't be pretty.
It's going to suck if Oppenheimer is only in IMAX for one week. Knowing Disney's strong-arm tactics with theater companies, that is exactly what they will push for. I really don't care about the box office angle, I just want folks like us to have a chance to see the film in IMAX multiple times without cramming it into a single week.

Why bother shooting a movie on 70mm IMAX FILM (much harder than using the cheap digital IMAX cameras) if it's only going to play for one week in the format? Very messed up scenario.

User avatar
Posts: 3402
Joined: January 2009
Maybe the IMAX imagery will be so mindblowing in Oppenheimer that for IMAX it is a no-brainer that they would prefer it to whatever Disney did with The Marvels...? I don't know, just guessing.

(I mean, I can't imagine how the IMAX images in this story can be grander or more spectacular than in Interstellar, for example, or even Dunkirk, but maybe IMAX knows something we don't... has any European nuclear agency picked up signs of a recent detonation yet?)

Post Reply