Ray Richmond: ‘Oppenheimer’ ushers in age of the thinking-person’s blockbuster

Ray Richmond
·7 min read
7
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

THIS COLUMN INCLUDES SOME “OPPENHEIMER” SPOILERS.

I don’t think I was as surprised as a lot of people were that “Barbie” broke out as such an even-better-than-expected megahit, hauling in $162 million domestic during opening weekend. It caught the zeitgeist wind just right and had some canny marketing might behind it. Say what you will about the moviegoing experience doing a slow fade, it can still get it together to generate a must-see happening. That’s what this was. At the screening I attended in Burbank on Saturday, there was a sense of giddy anticipation in the air. Moviegoers were posing in front of Barbie displays and getting into life-sized versions of Barbie doll packages. It was a hoot. The movie was fun, clever, beautiful to look at, superbly designed and agreeably goofy if at times a mite preachy.

More from GoldDerby

But it was the response to “Oppenheimer” that really surprised me, and not because it isn’t a great film – because it is. It’s just that it was promoted as a summer blockbuster, albeit a thinking-person’s version of same. I hadn’t imagined going in that there was even room for that. Without driving music and innumerable visual effects and wall-to-wall mayhem, how could it be a July popcorn movie? I mean, “Indiana Jones,” “Mission: Impossible”…”Oppenheimer”? What’s wrong with this picture?

SEEBox office: ‘Barbenheimer’ launches biggest weekend in years with $244.4 million between ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’

Think about it. Here we have an epic three-hour period biopic whose hero is a theoretical physicist – a physicist for cryin’ out loud! – that many/most people in the United States had probably never even heard of until the build-up to the film. That film makes abundant use of black-and-white, features incessant talking and little action, and is fronted by an Irish-born star in Cillian Murphy who had never before toplined a major film in America. Yes, he starred in Brit TV’s “Peaky Blinders” (airing on Netflix in the U.S.), but that’s not quite the same.

There I was in a packed audience on Saturday at the same multiplex where I watched “Barbie” (yes, I did the Barbenheimer thing), and throughout its 180-minute run time (200 if you count the trailers), my fellow moviegoers were riveted. Then come Sunday, I heard that “Oppenheimer” took in $80.2 million in the U.S. and another $98 million internationally over its opening weekend for a $180 million total global take. That $80 mil was merely half what “Barbie” generated, but that in itself is amazing when you consider how many fewer screenings it had due to its marathon length.

SEEWill ‘Oppenheimer’ be the ticket to Christopher Nolan’s elusive first Oscar?

OK, but credit where it’s due: “Oppenheimer” doesn’t lack for star power, featuring Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Rami Malek and Florence Pugh in prominent roles. There’s a little bit of nudity (Pugh and Murphy) and sex that doesn’t feel gratuitous. I found that the movie bogged down some when it dove into the minutiae of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s in-fighting with colleagues and the government and how it ultimately led to his losing his security clearance. This was a big deal for the man who headed the top-secret Manhattan Project and is credited as the Father of the Atomic Bomb.

Make no mistake, “Oppenheimer” is a history lesson wrapped in a somewhat sexier package than your basic American History class. It’s going to have plenty to celebrate when Academy Awards nominations are handed out next year and likely on Oscar night as well. That list is headed by writer-director Christopher Nolan for his adapted screenplay and direction, by Murphy for lead actor, Blunt for supporting actress, possibly Downey or Damon (or both) for supporting actor, and a slew of crafts categories including score, art direction, production design, editing (yes, even for a three-hour movie) and sound. Everything is first rate. Thankfully, there’s no “Love Theme from ‘Oppenheimer'” in the running for Best Song, but if there were, it would have a shot. The movie promises to be an Oscar magnet.

SEE2024 Oscars: Which movies will dominate design categories – ‘Barbie,’ ‘Oppenheimer’ …

The fact it’s such a great film (certainly among Nolan’s very best) is hardly a shock. Biopics are Oscar bait by their very nature. They can also be box office hits. I’m thinking in particular of “Lincoln,” which hauled in $182 million in domestic box office in 2012 while having the star power of Steven Spielberg and Daniel Day-Lewis on its side. As recently as last year, of course, there was “Elvis,” a significant hit with a relatively unknown lead in Austin Butler. And in 2018, “Bohemian Rhapsody” proved a major draw in telling the colorful story of Freddie Mercury and Queen, with a U.S. take of $216.4 million. Other significant biopic smashes in both earning power and awards include “The Greatest Showman,” “A Beautiful Mind,”  “Walk the Line,” “Erin Brockovich,” “Sully,” “Captain Phillips” (it helps a lot to have Tom Hanks as your lead) and “The Wolf of Wall Street.”

But there is a little bit of an apples-and-oranges comparison here between those and “Oppenheimer.” Perhaps the closest corollary would be “Hidden Figures,” the 2016 feature that told the story of a team of female African-American mathematicians who played a vital role in NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program. Like “Oppenheimer,” it was talky and dealt with an esoteric subject like math at its core. At the same time, it had a pulsating energy and the star power of Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer. What also helped boost it was subject matter that was positive and ultimately inspiring. “Oppenheimer”? Not so much. The latter’s brooding superstar emerges bathed in guilt and regret, responsible for technology that led to a death toll estimated at more than 200,000 souls in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It provided the polar opposite of a happy ending.

SEE ‘Oppenheimer’ at the Oscars: How many of the cast will contend?

This, again, is what makes the “Oppenheimer” response and numbers so astounding. It’s a thriller whose chief goal is to inflict a form of trauma on the audience. When its protagonists win, humanity itself is the loser. And yet, people flocked to theaters and gave it mostly rave reviews. Critics came in with a 94% Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, with the Audience Score just a tick behind at 93%. That’s a huge victory for all involved and fuels a sliver of justifiable optimism for a film industry presently beset by writer and actor walkouts and portents of ongoing doom surrounding our incentive to continue going out to the movies.

The performance of this movie is indisputable proof that while hope may not spring eternal, it nonetheless springs.

Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?

SIGN UP for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest predictions

Best of GoldDerby

Sign up for Gold Derby's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Click here to read the full article.