Oppenheimer box office: How much has it made?

How much has Christopher Nolan’s new movie Oppenheimer made at the box office? It is now the filmmaker’s third biggest flick at the global box office, just behind The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.

Critics and audiences love a Christopher Nolan movie, with his big-budget flicks usually receiving rave reviews, and frequently making a fortune in cinemas.

Tenet bucked this trend in 2020, scoring just 69% on Rotten Tomatoes, and grossing $365 million from a $200 million budget (which doesn’t include marketing and advertising). Though the film did release during the global shutdown.

Nolan is very much back in 2023 however, with Oppenheimer – spurred on by the Barbenheimer craze – turning into one of the most acclaimed and successful movies in his career. Here’s how much it made….

Oppenheimer box office total

UPDATE: As of September 11, 2023, Oppenheimer has earned over $890 million, making it Nolan’s third biggest movie ever. What’s more, Variety pointed out that the $900 million mark is not too far away, “and $1 billion is closer than box office watchers ever expected.”

By September 1, 2023, Oppenheimer had already grossed $788 million worldwide. That makes it the second most successful R-rated movie of all-time.

Oppenheimer was also predicted to gross $50 million over its first weekend. Instead, it made $80.5 million, with strong sales throughout the week.

“This is a 1940s period piece,” Universal’s president of domestic distribution Jim Orr told Variety at the time. “That speaks volumes to the appeal of Nolan and his prowess as a filmmaker. He has an amazing reputation for storytelling in the biggest format possible.”

Those numbers were driven by IMAX screenings, with the ‘Premium Large Format’ contributing 47% of the film’s domestic tally, and $35 million in global ticket sales. And with Christopher Nolan movies tending to stick around in cinemas, expect this one to run-and-run.

Original box office story follows…

ORIGINAL STORY FOLLOWS: Oppenheimer previewed in US cinemas last night (Thursday, 20 July) and according to Deadline, the movie made approximately $9 million. Though the outlet adds that this number could fluctuate overnight.

That’s compared to an estimated $20 million grossed by Barbie. Though while the media seems intent on comparing the films, that isn’t really fair, as Oppenheimer is R-rated. Greta Gerwig’s movie is more than an hour shorter than Christopher Nolan’s. And Barbie’s subject matter is much more mainstream and in tune with summer movie-going habits.

Also, Barbie is opening on 4,200 screens today, while Oppenheimer is debuting in 3,600. Though admittedly, many of those screens are IMAX, meaning a higher ticket price.

As for whether reviews will affect their ultimate totals, Barbie currently has a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 88%, while Oppenheimer sits on 93%.

Dunkirk also proved that Nolan movies can be a slow-burn at the box office, so Oppenheimer might stick around longer than its rival. Either way, we’ll update this article as-and-when fresh figures emerge.

Oppenheimer is in cinemas now, and you can find more coverage below:

Oppenheimer review | Ending explained | Epic runtime revealed | R-rating explained | Best way to watch Oppenheimer | Christopher Nolan on sex scenes | Cast and characters | Filming locations | True story explained | Is Oppenheimer streaming? | Nolan ranked by Rotten Tomato scores | Is it based on a book? | Age-gap controversy explained | Robert Pattinson’s influence | How Oppenheimer died | Christopher Nolan explains strange script | Did Japan ban Oppenheimer? | Review roundup | Does Oppenheimer have a post-credits scene? | Box office | Was Jean Tatlock murdered? | What happened to Kitty? | Why did Lewis Strauss hate Oppenheimer? | Did Oppenheimer win a Nobel Prize?