Oppenheimer emerged as one of the standout films in 2023, despite facing tough competition from the Margot Robbie starrer Barbie. The movie not only shattered box office records but also earned 13 Academy Award nominations and won seven Oscars, including the Best Picture award. Directed by Christopher Nolan, the biopic explores the life of J Robert Oppenheimer, the Father of the Atomic Bomb. Recently, the film made its debut in Japan, accompanied by trigger warnings.
Despite initial criticism over Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, the movie received positive response and earned an impressive $2.5 million during its opening weekend in the Asian nation. This pushed the movie’s global box office earnings over $965 million. Although the Cillian Murphy starrer couldn’t reach the $1 billion milestone, Oppenheimer became the third-highest grossing film in Nolan’s career, after The Dark Knight Rises and The Dark Knight.
Toho-Towa, the usual Hollywood distributor in Japan, wasn’t willing to release Oppenheimer. However, in a surprising turn of events, Bitters End stepped in last December to take the responsibility of bringing the film to Japanese audiences. This decision was made after lengthy discussions regarding the sensitive subject featured in the movie. As per Variety, Bitters End has a track record of handling successful films in Japan, as they previously managed the release of Parasite and recently Academy Award nominated Perfect Days.
According to earlier reports by Universal, initial ticket sales for Oppenheimer in Japan overtook Christopher Nolan’s previous films like Interstellar, Batman Begins, Dunkirk and The Dark Knight. It was similar to The Dark Knight Rises and Tenet, but it fell below Inception. The Leonardo DiCaprio starrer remains Nolan’s highest grossing film in Japan, which earned $42 million, while Tenet and Dunkirk garnered $25 million and $14.8 million, respectively.
Interestingly, the biopic is the largest global earning film to win the Academy’s top prize since The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in 2004, which crossed $1.15 billion worldwide.
In addition to winning the Best Picture award at the 2024 Oscars, Oppenheimer also succeeded in various other categories. Cillian Murphy was honoured with the Best Actor trophy, while Robert Downey Jr. received an award for Best Supporting Actor. Christopher Nolan was recognised with the Best Director award, Ludwig Goransson’s original score earned him the award in Best Original Score category, while Hoyte Van Hoytema won Best Cinematography award and Jennifer Lame was awarded in Best Editing category.
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