Christopher Nolan's upcoming film Oppenheimer received early reactions from audiences who attended the France premiere. According to these responses, Oppenheimer meets the level of expectation that can be anticipated from the filmmaking auteur’s next big movie.Oppenheimer with Universal has a $100 million budget, a run-time of 3 hours, reportedly no CGI, and even some scenes in black and white, which appears to represent the antithesis to the CGI-heavy blockbuster film that cost hundreds of millions of dollars. It also has a director known for flipping the industry on its head with his out-of-the-box thinking and use of practical effects. Nolan's Oppenheimer received praise from Kai Bird, the co-author of the Pulitzer-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, who was left “stunned,” and journalists seem to agree based on the early premiere.The historical drama starring Cillian Murphy opened in France before its domestic release, with Nolan attending the France premiere. Social media reactions to the film have come in, with AP film writer Lindsey Bahr calling Oppenheimer a “spectacular achievement” and a “serious, philosophical, adult drama.” Josh Horowitz, host of Happy Sad Confused, calls Oppenheimer “one of if not Nolan's best work,” which is high praise for the director of The Dark Knight and Interstellar. Others have called Murphy's performance “flawless” and “awards worthy,” and Telegraph film critic Robbie Collins expressed that it is a “total knockout” and “split my brain open like a twitchy plutonium nucleus.” Vulture critic Bilge Ebiri calls Oppenheimer “incredible,” “fearsome,” and “insanely detailed,” and The Sunday Times' Jonathan Dean says Oppenheimer is an “audacious, inventive, complex film to rattle its audience.”
The fuse lit for Oppenheimer looks to be as good as the atomic bomb is big, which is a huge success for Nolan following his previous film Tenet with Warner Bros. Nolan was upset with WB for not supporting Tenet in its shift to a content-driven business strategy. While Oppenheimer represents Nolan's move from Warner Bros. to Universal, Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy at Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly want Nolan back (via Variety). However, other WBD executives have been criticized for having an arguably toxic relationship with their directors. Since the Discovery merger, the shift from cinema to content is now more apparent than ever under WBD CEO David Zaslav amid the WGA writers' strike.
Oppenheimer releases on the same day as Barbie, and WBD refused to move the date after being in talks with Universal, which reportedly upset Nolan and isn’t a good start to healing old wounds with the studio. However, Murphy supports audiences seeing both movies, expressing, “You can spend the whole day at the cinema. What’s better than that?” According to Murphy, Oppenheimer will be something different, so audiences may want to see the Nolan biopic first and then watch Barbie after for what is certainly to be an unforgettable weekend.
Oppenheimer arrives in theaters on July 21, 2023.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter, Variety