Paul Thomas Anderson and Denis Villeneuve were in awe of Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer.’ The worldwide box office for Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” has surpassed $900 million, making the Universal Pictures film the all-time highest-grossing biopic. Villeneuve claimed in a discussion with the Associated Press that he felt “Oppenheimer” was a “masterpiece” after watching it, but he never imagined it would earn close to $1 billion at the box office worldwide. Villeneuve stated, “Where it is right now has blown the roof off of my projection, It’s a three-hour movie about people talking about nuclear physics.”
Emma Thomas, Nolan’s longstanding producer, and wife, told AP, “When you make a film, you hope that you’re going to connect with an audience in some form or another, But, particularly with a three-hour film that has a serious subject and is challenging in many ways, this sort of success is beyond our wildest imaginings.”
The movie has reportedly grossed over $179 million in IMAX, according to AP. Villeneuve, who used IMAX cameras to shoot scenes for both “Dune” films, values his expertise working in the large-format format. Villeneuve remarked, “The future of cinema is IMAX and the large
formats. The audience wants to see something that they cannot have at home, that they cannot have on streaming. They want to experience an event. There’s this notion that movies, in some people’s minds, became content instead of an art form. I hate that word, ‘content.’ That movies like ‘Oppenheimer’ are released on the big screen and become an event brings back a spotlight on the idea that it’s a tremendous art form that needs to be experienced in theaters.”
Additionally, “Oppenheimer” received praise from Paul Thomas Anderson for increasing interest in 70mm formats. The 25 IMAX 70mm screens [for “Oppenheimer”] domestically generated about $20 million in box office revenue; normal 70mm venues brought in more than $14 million, according to the AP.
Anderson added his statement, “When a filmmaker as strong as Chris is pointing a finger at you and telling you where to go… you listen…and audiences have been rewarded for it. I know some film buffs who drove from El Paso to Dallas to see the film properly. That’s about 18 hours round trip. I don’t think there’s anyone who could disagree — seeing ‘Oppenheimer’ on film is superior in every single way. Not to mention, people are tired of asking, ‘Why would I go to a movie theater to watch TV?’ Good question… you don’t have to anymore… I would call this is nature’s way of healing.”