Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ raked in USD 2.5 million from 343 theatres in Japan, the latest country where the movie was released nearly a year after its global premiere.
Oppenheimer emerged as one of the most successful movies of 2023, collecting over USD 900 million. Together with Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, the film did well both critically and commercially.
According to Universal Pictures, “Oppenheimer” is the biggest opening weekend of 2024 for a Hollywood release in Japan, surpassing “Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom” (USD 1.6 million) and “Dune: Part Two” (USD 1.3 million), reported Variety.
In Japan, it is facing challenge from local releases “Strange House” and the animated film “Haikyu!!”.
With these ticket sales, “Oppenheimer” stands at a staggering USD 965 million globally, Variety reported.
The success of the film in Japan was doubted ahead of its release.
It’s controversial in Japan, given the subject matter of the film, which follows the American theoretical physicist J Robert Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy), who led the creation of the atomic bombs, reported Vareity.
The weapons of mass destruction were detonated in 1945 over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing Japanese citizens.
Oppenheimer dominates Oscars
Oppenheimer swept the Oscars night at the 96th Academy Awards, winning the Best Movie laurel, along with six other awards.
Nolan’s blockbuster biopic on the life of Oppenheimer, who was torn between a guilt conscience and remorsefulness over the atomic bomb’s catastrophic effects after they were dropped in Japan at the fag end of the Second World War, won the honors for best director (Nolan), best actor (Cillian Murphy), best supporting actor (Robert Downey Jr.), best cinematography (Hoyte van Hoytema), best film editing (Jennifer Lame) and best original score (Ludwig Göransson).
Receiving the award, Murphy said, “We made a film about the man who created the atomic bomb and for better or for worse, we are all living in Oppenheimer’s world, so I’d like to dedicate to the peacemakers everywhere.”