Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer was the only film in 2023 that could even attempt to rival the popularity of Barbie and it seems to have paid off.

Nolan was able to put butts in seats across the world depicting the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man that would become known as the father of the atom.

Oppenheimer follows the story of the American scientist, played by Cillian Murphy, and his role in developing the atomic bomb which was used in World War II.

Rather than simply glorify this achievement, the film highlights Oppenheimer’s own reservations about the use of the bomb, and the development of nuclear weapons after the end of war.

Nolan has become known for his use of practical effects and rarely shies away from the expense of shooting in real locations.

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With this in mind, it means his films rely less on small sets and green screens, allowing him to showcase just how good of a director he is.

The film can prove difficult to follow if you aren’t clued up on all the secrets projects the US was working on away from the frontlines during WW2.

However, the viewing experience proved to be iconic and got people talking about the its constant switches from color to black-and-white.

However, some people thought it was simply done to signify past and present as you may expect.

Yet Oppenheimer appears in color in scenes when he was a college student, as well as scenes in the later stages of his life.

So, it turns out the color scenes are from Oppenheimer’s point of view whereas the black-and-white is supposed to be from Strauss’.

Oppenheimer production notes provided to Insider explain: “Nolan decided that the scenes told through Oppenheimer’s perspective would be in color (he also wrote them in the first person, an unconventional choice for a screenplay), with occasional cutaways to evocative, surreal imagery that symbolically expressed his interior world.

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“The scenes that centre on Strauss would be in black and white.”

Nolan also made clear he is aware of the impact Oppenheimer had on the cinema going public and how he thinks this marks a good step forward for the industry.

Speaking to Empire in December last year he said. “I’ve just made a three-hour film about Robert Oppenheimer which is R-rated and half in black-and-white – and it made a billion dollars. Of course I think films are doing great.

“The crazy thing is that it’s literally the most successful film I’ve ever made. I’ve been doing this for 20 years and in the United Kingdom it’s my highest-grossing film. So I feel great about the state of the movie business, based on my own experience. But also based on seeing other movies break out, seeing audiences come back.”

Christopher Nolan appears to not be too impressed with streaming services.

Nolan has directed a series of critically acclaimed movies from The Dark Night and Inception, to Dunkirk and the recently released Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer hit cinemas in July, and those who didn’t get the chance to watch it on the big screen are eagerly awaiting it to drop on streaming services.

But Nolan doesn’t want you to watch it that way.

In fact, the director – seemingly jokingly – labelled streaming services as ‘evil’ as he discussed the importance of how a film is viewed in people’s homes.

Speaking at a Los Angeles screening of The Story of Our Time: The Making of ‘Oppenheimer’ on Monday (November 13), the 53-year-old said: “Obviously Oppenheimer has been quite a ride for us and now it is time for me to release a home version of the film. I’ve been working very hard on it for months.

“I’m known for my love of theatrical and put my whole life into that, but, the truth is, the way the film goes out at home is equally important.”

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Noting that The Dark Knight was one of the first movies that was ‘specifically formatted for Blu-ray’, Nolan said that they’ve put a lot of time into the Blu-ray edition of Oppenheimer.

“We put a lot of care and attention into the Blu-ray version,” he said, as per Variety.

“And trying to translate the photography and the sound, putting that into the digital realm with a version you can buy and own at home and put on a shelf so no evil streaming service can come steal it from you.”

Universal Pictures

Oppenheimer was based on the story of J Robert Oppenheimer, where Cillian Murphy stars as the scientist.

It went down a storm at the box office, and took the title off Bohemian Rhapsody to become the highest-grossing biopic of all time.

It pulled in more than $912 million at the box office, while the biopic about Freddie Mercury and Queen brought in $910 million during its theatrical run.

It was evident that Nolan had a lot of faith in Oppenheimer, as he’s reported to have made a huge deal with Universal Pictures ahead of its release.

As part of his demands, the director is said to have requested a 20 percent share of the first-dollar gross.

If the reports are accurate, it’s believed Nolan will have had an $180 million payday.

Impressive.

How do you go about recreating a nuclear blast?

Well, unless you fancy pouring billions of dollars into a nuclear programme to enrich uranium to the levels needed for a bomb, then you’ll have to find another way.

Now, it might seem an outlandish question but this is precisely the challenge that Christopher Nolan and his team faced on the set of Oppenheimer.

In an industry where CGI has become the norm on movies, you might think that the easiest way to do this would be to do it in post.

But sometimes that isn’t the case – remember Dwayne Johnson as the Scorpion King in The Mummy?

No matter how ultra-realistic CGI is, high end practical effects is often better. But it’s not the first time Nolan has had to create one, as he explained: “With the Trinity test, what I knew from experience having done a nuclear explosion via computer graphics in The Dark Knight Rises, which worked very well for that film […].

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“It showed me that with a real life event like Trinity […] the computer graphics would never give you the sense of threat that you see in the real life footage.”

So, there was a lot of pressure to get it right.

But just how did they do it?

First, you have to think about the different parts of the explosion.

There’s the initial flash, then the shockwave, and finally the mushroom cloud.

And after some ‘experiments’, they managed to come up with plenty of ‘analog methods’ that would create the effect as accurately as possible.

To create the flash and cloud, the team put together a special mixture of explosives including gasoline, gunpowder, and aluminium.

The aluminium was responsible for the flash at first, before the gasoline and gunpowder ignited in a sequence designed to create the shape of the mushroom.

Obviously the explosion they created wasn’t large enough to create a shockwave by itself.

So instead, they built a device to be placed in front of the camera.

This was a small ‘stage’ made out of wood, with a wooden bar under the surface which could be pulled along very quickly.

When the top was covered with sand, pulling the bar created a wave of sand along the surface.

But it wasn’t just the physical practical effects that helped, but also the perspective of the camera to give off the impression of a catastrophic explosion.

It’s the little things that matter.

Oppenheimer has won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

The movie took home the coveted award in what was an excellent night for Christopher Nolan’s historical biopic about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

The announcement arrived a little sooner than expected after announcer Al Pacino skipped the usual part where they go through all the nominees.

Instead, Pacino got straight to the point, opening the envelope and said: “I’m seeing Oppenheimer.”

Starring Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, and Robert Downey Jr., Oppenheimer received nominations in 13 different categories.

Star Cillian Murphy won the award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the physicist.

During his acceptance speech, he said: “I’m a very proud Irish man standing here tonight.

“We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb, and for better or worse we’re living in Oppenheimer’s world, so I’d really to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.”

Murphy joined his cast member Robert Downey Jr. in scooping an Academy Award for Oppenheimer after Downey Jr. won the award for Best Supporting Actor.

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Christopher Nolan also scooped the award for Best Director for Oppenheimer. This was the first time that Nolan had won an Academy award, though he had previously been nominated.

In the end, Oppenheimer won the awards for Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Supporting Actor.

Emily Blunt was also nominated for Best Supporting Actress for the movie, the first time she has been nominated for an Academy award.

Fellow winner and Oppenheimer alumnus Downey Jr. caught the sharp end of Kimmel’s humor earlier in the evening when the comedian brought up his previous struggles with addiction.

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Kimmel quipped: “This is the highest point of Robert Downey Jr’s long and illustrious career. Well, one of the highest points.”

Kimmel added: “Was that too on the nose or a drug motion you made?”

He then rowed things back a little, highlighting Downey Jr.’s many awards.

Kimmel said: “But look at him, he’s so handsome, so talented, he’s won every award there is to win.

“Is that an acceptance speech in your pocket or do you just have a very rectangular penis?”

The final scoop for Oppenheimer saw it take home seven awards in total, including for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Supporting Actor.

Viewers were in for one surprise however, when Emma Stone took home her second award for Best Actress over supposed frontrunner Lily Gladstone.