The summer of 2023 proved to be a boon for many cinegoers, as they witnessed one of the biggest clashes at the box office of the decade. Christopher Nolan released his nuclear drama feature ‘Oppenheimer’ on the same date as Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’. Both films proved to be cornerstones of pop culture and also managed to make phenomenal business at the box office.
Christopher Nolan gave a thrilling cinematic experience with an exclusive IMAX release for a magnificent sonic and visual experience with ‘Oppenheimer’. This was a different Nolan film. Instead of exploring the complexities and intertwining of space, time, and humans, Nolan decided to take a bold step to make the humans question their conscience while inhabiting similar space and time. It was the story of Robert J. Oppenheimer and the first detonation of a nuclear bomb that changed the course of World War II. Along with many stalwarts, Spike Lee is also a fan of the film, but he has suggested a change.
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Spike Lee Wishes Christopher Nolan Would Have Showed The Plight Of Japanese People In ‘Oppenheimer’
Christopher Nolan has given one of the biggest blockbusters of the year with ‘Oppenheimer’. The film has managed to bag $900 million at the box office, inching towards the $1 billion club. Nolan, through Cillian Murphy‘s Oppenheimer, portrayed an inward lens through the process of the detonation of the nuclear bomb that caused heavy destruction to Japan and changed the Second World War.
While Spike Lee enjoyed the way Christopher Nolan showed the moral plight of Robert J. Oppenheimer, he wished that he would have shown the suffering of the Japanese people. During an interview with The Washington Post, the director said, “[Nolan] is a massive filmmaker… and this is not a criticism. It’s a comment. If [Oppenheimer] is three hours, I would like to add some more minutes about what happened to the Japanese people. People got vaporized.”
Lee continued, “Many years later, people are radioactive. It’s not like he didn’t have power. He tells studios what to do. I would have loved to have the end of the film maybe show what it did, dropping those two nuclear bombs on Japan.”
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The Film Is On The Verge Of Grossing $1 Billion At The Box Office
‘Barbie’ has already created ripples at the box office globally. The film has already created records, crossing $1 billion in just 27 days! ‘Oppenheimer’, on the other hand, is unstoppable, and it is inching near the $1 billion mark. Both films have managed to collect $2 billion at the global box office.
In September 2023, during the eighth weekend of the film, the film grossed $25 million at the US box office. Due to this, the domestic gross collection reached $315 million, and the film globally grossed $575.9 million, summing up to $891 million. The nearest Nolan film that grossed above $500 million was 2010’s ‘Inception’.
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