• Oppenheimer became one of the highest-grossing IMAX films of all time, earning $146.4 million from IMAX screenings alone, with $17 million coming from just 30 screens.
  • The competition that Oppenheimer came across this title from movies like Avatar, Star Wars: The Force AwakensAnd Avengers: Endgamemakes his success all the more impressive.
  • Director Christopher Nolan’s commitment to filming in IMAX is evident as he worked with Kodak to develop new technology for capturing intimate black and white scenes.

After the news of the weekend that Oppenheimerlatest masterpiece from the director Christopher Nolanpassed the $700 million threshold over the weekend, it was also confirmed that Cillian Murphy-The leading retelling of “The Manhattan Project” and the making of the atomic bomb broke into the top five IMAX films of all time in terms of total gross in premium big screen format.

OppenheimerSuccess at IMAX is no secret, but when you consider the competition he’s faced and the films that still stand above him, it’s clear what a stunning achievement this is for Nolan. The film earned a superb $146.4 million from IMAX alone, accounting for 20% of its total worldwide revenue, and of that $146.4 million, more than $17 million came from just 30 screens that showed the film in 70mm print. a format that Nolan had previously declared to be the gold standard for cinema.

Films that used to collect more in IMAX Oppenheimer? Well, you may have heard of them, given that they are 4 of the 5 highest grossing in history, namely Avatar and its continuation The Way of the Water, Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avengers: Endgame.. The film will be screening exclusively in 70mm IMAX theaters until the end of this month before giving way to screens. Equalizer 3but expect him to return shortly thereafter.

Inventing a new standard

Emily Blunt as Kitty in Oppenheimer
Image via Universal Pictures

Nolan’s commitment to filming at IMAX is legendary, to the point that he and his cinematographer Hoyt van Hoytema decided to work with Kodak to develop new technology that would allow the film to shoot more intimate scenes in black and white. In an interview with Collider, van Hoytema explained:

“I really liked the structural assistance and aesthetic charge of switching between color and black and white that I had on Memento. I’ve always looked for a reason to come back to it. in which we tell this story, it’s told in a very subjective way, but also with a more objective storyline that intertwines with it. It was truly the perfect time to get back to the device I loved so much. So we challenged the people at Kodak photochem to do the job for us. And they got active. For the first time in history, we were able to shoot an IMAX film in black and white. And the results were exciting and extraordinary. As soon as Hoyt and I saw the first test coming in, we just knew it was a format we immediately fell in love with.”

You can check out our interview with Nolan for Oppenheimer below, where he details his love for IMAX.