Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer: The unlikely success of a complex film

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Christopher Nolan's latest film, Oppenheimer, has taken the global box office by storm, raking in nearly $800 million in revenues. Released on the same day as the blockbuster Barbie on July 21, 2023, which has collected around $1.34 billion worldwide, Oppenheimer's success raises some intriguing questions.

How did a movie centered around a relatively unknown scientist manage to become a massive hit? Oppenheimer is a dialogue-heavy film with three parallel timelines, two in color and one in black and white, constantly shifting chronologically.

All this complexity might seem daunting, especially when it had to compete with the world's most popular doll, beloved by billions of women since childhood.

Adding to the challenge, Oppenheimer is rated R, meaning it's restricted to «adults only» in India, further limiting its potential audience. Despite this, it has climbed to become the second most successful R-rated movie ever, trailing only behind Joker, a film featuring the well-known Batman villain.

For those with a penchant for the history of science, Oppenheimer offers an intriguing narrative, featuring some of the greatest physicists of the 20th century, including Einstein, Niels Bohr, Ernest Lawrence, Enrico Fermi, and Richard Feynman.

However, even for enthusiasts, identifying all these figures can be a blink-and-you-miss-it affair. For instance, Feynman is mentioned by name just once, recognizable mainly by his bongo-playing habit.

The international audience, ranging from China, where the film grossed over $11 million in its first week, to Italy, where it earned nearly $10 million in five days, may have found it challenging to grasp the intricacies of the Manhattan Project or concepts like «isotope» and «heavy water»