Greta Gerwig attends the ‘Barbie’ Press Tour, Sydney Australia 2023. Photography by Caroline McCredie for Warner Bros/NBC Universal. Contact: jade.perry@nbcuni.com.
‘Barbie’ continues to impress this weekend, staying at the top of the domestic box office for the fourth week in a row, while Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ continued to bring in the cash at roughly half the speed of Greta Gerwig’s film.
Elsewhere, the new releases didn’t make much of an impact, with one in particular failing to capture the audience’s imagination.
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Another successful weekend for ‘Barbie’
(Center) Margot Robbie as Barbie in Warner Bros. Pictures’ ‘Barbie,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.
‘Barbie ‘ took in $33.7 million this weekend, making for more than $526 million domestically. Outside the United States, the movie nudged past $657 million for a grand total of $1.18 billion global haul.
And the movie continues to earn accolades, including becoming the second-highest earning movie in Warner Bros. history (it has its sights on ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II’, which remains on the top spot with $1.315 billion).
For Gerwig, it was also a good weekend –– thanks to ‘Barbie’s success, she’s now the highest-grossing female filmmaker in the world. Her new film passed the earnings of ‘Frozen II’, which was co-directed by Jennifer Lee.
Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer in ‘Oppenheimer,’ written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.
While Christopher Nolan’s latest isn’t quite on the same level, it is showing remarkable holding power for a three-hour, talky biopic movie about a tricky subject. ‘Oppenheimer’ is now sitting at $649 worldwide and is the highest-grossing World War II movie, ahead of ‘Saving Private Ryan’ and Nolan’s own ‘Dunkirk’.
‘Oppenheimer’ saw off the new releases –– mostly because there was only one wide-ish new arrival, and it definitely make much of an impact on the charts.
Third place went to animated holdover ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ which has so far earned more than $72 million domestically. And giant shark movie ‘Meg 2: The Trench’ took in $12.7 million for fourth place, with a $54. 1 million total (both of those movies are also seeing a boost from takings elsewhere in the world).
Universal’s latest attempt to open up its horror vault fared about as well as the sailors on the titular boat as ‘The Last Voyage of the Demeter’ docked at fifth place with an anemic $6.5 million.
The long-developing terror title adapted from a chapter of ‘Dracula’ –– which sees the bloodsucker cause havoc on the ship as he travels from Transylvania to England –– opened to even lower figures than the studio’s latest attempt to mine the vampire’s story for a movie.
This year’s ‘Renfield’, which landed in April, is considered far from a success, and that opened to $8 million. ‘Demeter’ will have to hope that global audiences help to boost it –– though some markets, such as the UK, don’t even have a date for the movie yet.
Finally, Bleecker Street Media’s ‘Jules’, which sees Ben Kingsley as a mild-mannered small-town resident whose life is upended when an alien crash lands in his backyard. The movie, which debuted on 780 screens, earned $1 million.
Greta Gerwig attends the ‘Barbie’ Press Tour, Sydney Australia 2023. Photography by Caroline McCredie for Warner Bros/NBC Universal. Contact: jade.perry@nbcuni.com.
‘Barbie’ is proving to be much more than just a pop culture hit. The movie, which successfully opened with $162 million domestically, has broken another barrier. It is now the second film of 2023 to make a billion dollars at the worldwide box office.
And while ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ achieved the feat back in April, ‘Barbie’ has beaten it to the mark by a week –– hitting more than a billion globally in just those three scant weeks on release.
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Success for Greta Gerwig
Greta Gerwig attends the ‘Barbie’ Press Tour, Sydney Australia 2023. Photography by Caroline McCredie for Warner Bros/NBC Universal. Contact: jade.perry@nbcuni.com.
The runaway hit is also big for its director –– Greta Gerwig, who co-wrote (with Noah Baumbach) and directed the movie, becomes the first solo female filmmaker to have a billion-dollar movie.
In 2019, ‘Captain Marvel’ made more than $1.1 billion, but that was co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. And Jennifer Lee has enjoyed two billion-dollar earners with the ‘Frozen’ films, though both were co-directed with Chris Buck.
‘Barbie’s success is all the more impressive because it has clearly connected beyond the initial rush of memes and jokes around the first couple of trailers. The movie has captured the public imagination, and alongside Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’, has become one of the movie events of the year.
It just keeps on breaking records, including non-holiday weekend earnings and low drops in subsequent weeks.
The film, which also stars Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Ariana Greenblatt, Simu Liu and Will Ferrell, had a budget of roughly $100 million, and while it had an extensive promotional campaign, word of mouth and a clutch of positive reviews have carried it to big money.
Could it hit $2 billion? Anything is possible at this point, though with the state of the theatrical business post-Covid, it’s more unlikely than before the pandemic. Still, it continues to bring in audiences.
Domestically, ‘Barbie’ has so far made $459 million, and $572 million internationally.
Star Margot Robbie jokingly told executives that she felt confident it could be a billion-dollar movie while meeting executives before it got a greenlight at Warners, as she revealed during the pre-release press rounds in an interview with Collider:
Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer in ‘Oppenheimer,’ written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.
‘Oppenheimer’, which has also been enjoying plenty of success of its own, is also managing to hold well at the box office. While giant shark movie ‘Meg 2: The Trench’ made it to second place in this weekend’s charts (with $30 million), Christopher Nolan’s latest was third with $28.7 million, enough to see off ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’, which took in $28 million.
That might seem like a problem for the Turtles, but the Paramount Pictures animated movie was produced for $70 million, which means it has less to earn before it becomes profitable.
As for ‘Oppenheimer’, it has earned $228.6 million domestically and $552.9 million worldwide. It is the highest-grossing R-rated movie of 2023 and marks the fastest a Universal movie with that classification has hit more than $200 million at home.
For Nolan, it now ranks as his fifth most successful movie of all time, passing ‘Dunkirk’ and is a big vindication for Universal, which saw a chance to secure his services after his dissatisfaction with how previous moviemaking home Warner Bros. handled ‘Tenet’ and treated other filmmakers during the pandemic, especially with its day-and-date theatrical/streaming policy.
‘Barbie’ Director/Writer Greta Gerwig attends a Fan Event in Seoul, Korea. Photo Credit: Chang Ho.
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We’re used to celebrity name combos –– your “Bennifer” etc. But movies of such different styles being treated as a duo? That really doesn’t happen very often. And yet here we are with “Barbenheimer”.
The pop cultural sensation of moviegoers choosing a double bill of ‘Barbie’ and the ‘Oppenheimer’ (trust us when we say, it’s best to start with Christopher Nolan’s weighty, thoughtful exploration of the father of the Atomic Bomb before moving on to Greta Gerwig’s fun, colorful comedy, which despite appearances has some satire and real intelligence of its own) has also been igniting the box office to successful effect.
Both of the movies opened big, and both have held on to huge swathes of their audiences as film fans kept turning out to experience them.
Greta Gerwig’s subtle satire of gender relations and product placement is the biggest film of the moment and could well end up as the most successful of the year, on track to become one of –– if not the only –– billion-dollar movie in 2023.
‘Barbie’ opened with $150 million, and continued to play well through the following week, crowds turning out consistently. It doesn’t hurt that many kids are on summer vacation and the movie has family appeal.
Second weekends can increasingly be tough for movies that open wide and successfully, but Gerwig’s movie rose to the latest challenge, adding an impressive $93 million in its sophomore three-day segment, a 43% drop from its debut and representing the seventh biggest second weekend in history. It’s up there with the giant likes of the more successful modern ‘Star Wars’ films and some of Marvel’s ‘Avengers’ titles.
As it stands right now, ‘Barbie’ has more than $750 million in the bank globally and is the third biggest movie of the year so far.
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’Oppenheimer’s No Bomb
Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer in ‘Oppenheimer,’ written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.
Nolan’s film, meanwhile, is also doing spectacularly for the director and for studio Universal, which took the chance to snag his services after he was displeased with the treatment of fellow filmmakers by former Hollywood home Warner Bros. during the pandemic.
‘Oppenheimer’ opened to $80.5 million, a feat for a three-hour movie with a darker, mature subject matter and complex tone. And, like ‘Barbie’, it has continued to perform, becoming the first R-rated film to gross more than $10 million for seven days in a row on Friday.
Its own second weekend was similarly impressive, the Cillian Murphy-starring movie dropping just 44% for $46.6 million this past weekend. All in all, the movie has earned more than $400 million at the worldwide box office.
“Weekend two proves the outpouring of interest in ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ a week ago was not a fluke. Both films put up second weekend numbers that would have been considered solid as debuts and reflect two of the best sophomore session holds in box office history.”
Such was the impact of that one-two punch that new releases had trouble making it into the charts. Disney’s ‘Haunted Mansion’ (the latest adaptation of the classic theme park ride) could only muster $24.6 million in third, which isn’t that great for a movie costing $150 million to make and millions more to promote. Yet while horror movie ‘Talk To Me’ opened sixth, its far smaller $4.5 million budget means a $10 million opening is counted as more of a success.
Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer in ‘Oppenheimer,’ written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.
The haggard face of J. Robert Oppenheimer, taking a long draw on a cigarette, has already locked down a resounding victory in the great meme sweepstakes of Summer 2023, serving as downbeat, black-and-white counterpoint to the beaming radiance and saturated pink hues of ‘Barbie.’ But could ‘Oppenheimer‘ star Cillian Murphy actually pop up as Ken in a ‘Barbie’ sequel? Sure, according to the Irish actor himself.
With opening weekend in the rearview mirror, the double feature of “Barbenheimer” — half grassroots campaign, half savvy contrivance — has proven to be a huge success, the rising tide of interwoven promotional campaigns for two very different films clearly lifting the commercial fortunes of each. Universal’s ‘Oppenheimer,’ from filmmaker Christopher Nolan, grossed $82 million domestically and around $174 million across the globe. Meanwhile, ‘Barbie,’ distributed by Warner Bros., raked in an astounding $162 million within the United States and $337 million worldwide.
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Nolan’s film, needless to say, doesn’t particularly lend itself to the notion of sequels. But as part of a lucrative deal with toy manufacturer Mattel, Warner Bros. surely has visions of a healthy, long-lasting ‘Barbie’ franchise.
There would be many different ways to spin things for a sequel, starting with whether director Greta Gerwig (and cowriter and real-life partner Noah Baumbach) wanted to stay involved. But one possibility that has gotten a good bit of traction — with a certain amount of encouragement and trial-balloon-floating from Warner Bros., one feels — is the idea of a spinoff focusing on Ken. Or, more accurately, Kens, plural.
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Where Would “Science Ken” Fit in a Shared Barbie Universe?
(L to R) Kinsley Ben-Adir, Ryan Gosling as Ken, and Ncuti Gatwa in Warner Bros. Pictures’ ‘Barbie,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.
In Gerwig’s film, Ryan Gosling stars as “Beach Ken” opposite Margot Robbie, who portrays the “stereotypical version” of the title character. Different variants of Ken are also portrayed by Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Scott Evans, Ncuti Gatwa and, yes, even John Cena. In praising not only Gosling’s performance but especially a choreographed dance number featuring the Kens, critics have noted some seemingly unique avenues of narrative opportunity.
During a recent conversation with Omelete, Murphy was asked if he would be open to starring as a Ken in a potential ‘Barbie’ sequel. “Would I play a Ken in Barbie 2? Sure, yeah — let’s read the script, let’s have a conversation,” said Murphy with a smile.
Murphy’s answer may, on the face of it, seem surprising to fans of the actor, best known for a variety of intense and smoldering characters, from ‘28 Days Later‘ and ‘Red Eye‘ to ‘The Wind That Shakes the Barley‘ and ‘Peaky Blinders’ — as well as his five previous collaborations with Nolan, including Dr. Jonathan Crane/Scarecrow in the director’s ‘Dark Knight‘ trilogy.
Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer in ‘Oppenheimer,’ written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.
Still, those gleefully rubbing their palms together in anticipation of seeing Murphy get to flex his under-showcased comedic chops (and maybe even decked out in rollerblades and garish, neon-print fashion) shouldn’t commence with fan art just yet. Step one on the path toward his potential participation is finding the time to actually catch ‘Barbie.’
“I can’t wait to see it — I can’t wait to see the movie,” said Murphy, acknowledging that he’s been a bit busy with his own promotional duties on behalf of ‘Oppenheimer.’ “I think it’s great for cinema to get all these great movies happening this summer.”
Who knows — with a little luck, Murphy may, a couple summers hence, finally find himself on the smiling side of a meme.
(Center) Simu Liu in Warner Bros. Pictures’ ‘Barbie,’ a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures.
The “Barbenheimer” sensation set a box office record this past weekend as fans spill into the theaters for both movies. With endless memes on the internet and fans planning their double-feature viewing strategy for ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’, the phenomenon has set the weekend box office on fire. Showing up in a sea of pink for Greta Gerwig’s latest film, ‘Barbie’ opened to $155 million. Not to be outdone, Christopher Nolan’s visually stunning ‘Oppenheimer’ follows with $80.5 million on opening day.
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The massive box office number is due to audiences refusing to choose one or the other, making their double feature an event of the summer. As the “Barbenheimer’ trend continues to grow on social media, many small businesses leaned into the theme, creating shirts and accessories to celebrate the release. Fans show off their outfit changes as they go from one movie to the next. Star of ‘Barbie’ Margot Robbie and director Greta Gerwig have also shown their support by posing for a photo in front of a poster of ‘Oppenheimer’ with tickets in hand.
‘Barbie’ also sets a record high for a movie by a female director, surpassing ‘Captain Marvel’ ($153.4 million) and ‘Wonder Woman’ ($103.3 million). Currently, both films are certified on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, with ‘Barbie’ at 91% and ‘Oppenheimer’ at 94%. Worldwide, the movies have earned a combined $551.1 million, with ‘Barbie’ earning $337 million and ‘Oppenheimer’ earning $174.1 million.
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A New Record For AMC Entertainment
Writer, director, and producer Christopher Nolan on the set of ‘Oppenheimer.’
Movie theaters struggled with attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic and have been slow to recover. The opening of both films sent masses to the theaters, setting the highest records since post-pandemic. According to AMC, Saturday was their busiest day since July of 2019. They recorded their fifth-highest single-day US ticket revenues in their 103-year history. AMC also recorded 87,000 members of their Stubs loyalty program members booked tickets for both movies over the weekend.
AMC CEO Adam Aron sends a personal congratulations to both films:
“AMC sends an enormous thank you and congratulations to Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, and the entire team at Warner Bros., and to Christopher Nolan and the team at Universal Pictures. They’ve demonstrated that well-made, well-marketed films that captivate audiences can open on the same weekend and both enjoy great success.”
One of the main driving forces leading the audience into the theater is ‘Oppenheimer’ being shot with IMAX cameras and offered in formats such as IMAX 70MM. While it’s not the first movie to be shot with IMAX cameras, Nolan’s visionary storytelling and use of practical effects create a theatrical experience that cannot be duplicated at home.
It is likely for the “Barbeheimer” trend to continue well into the summer as fans continue to show up for their chance to see the movies.
Greta Gerwig attends the ‘Barbie’ Press Tour, Sydney Australia 2023. Photography by Caroline McCredie for Warner Bros/NBC Universal. Contact: jade.perry@nbcuni.com.
Writer, director, and producer Christopher Nolan on the set of ‘Oppenheimer.’
Christoper Nolan is one of the most acclaimed and popular filmmakers working today.
The director first gained attention for his groundbreaking film ‘Memento,’ and has since helmed such beloved movies as ‘Inception,’ ‘Dunkirk,’ ‘Tenet,’ and ‘The Dark Knight‘ series.
In honor of his new film ‘Oppenheimer,’ which opens in theaters on July 21st, Moviefone is counting down every film Christopher Nolan has directed, including his latest.
Bill (Jeremy Theobald), an idle, unemployed aspiring writer, walks the crowded streets of London following randomly chosen strangers, a seemingly innocent entertainment that becomes dangerous when he crosses paths with a mysterious character.
Following the death of District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Batman (Christian Bale) assumes responsibility for Dent’s crimes to protect the late attorney’s reputation and is subsequently hunted by the Gotham City Police Department. Eight years later, Batman encounters the mysterious Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) and the villainous Bane (Tom Hardy), a new terrorist leader who overwhelms Gotham’s finest. The Dark Knight resurfaces to protect a city that has branded him an enemy.
(Center) Matthew McConaughey in director Christopher Nolan’s ‘Interstellar.’
The adventures of a group of explorers who make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitations on human space travel and conquer the vast distances involved in an interstellar voyage.
Two Los Angeles homicide detectives (Al Pacino and Martin Donovan) are dispatched to a northern town where the sun doesn’t set to investigate the methodical murder of a local teen.
Liam Neeson in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Batman Begins.’
Driven by tragedy, billionaire Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) dedicates his life to uncovering and defeating the corruption that plagues his home, Gotham City. Unable to work within the system, he instead creates a new identity, a symbol of fear for the criminal underworld – The Batman.
(L to R) John David Washington and Robert Pattinson in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Tenet.’ Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
Armed with only one word – Tenet – and fighting for the survival of the entire world, the Protagonist (John David Washington) journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a mission that will unfold in something beyond real time.
(L to R) Andy Serkis and Hugh Jackman in Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Prestige.’ Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
A mysterious story of two magicians (Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale) whose intense rivalry leads them on a life-long battle for supremacy — full of obsession, deceit and jealousy with dangerous and deadly consequences.
Leonardo DiCaprio in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Inception.’ Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio), a skilled thief who commits corporate espionage by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets is offered a chance to regain his old life as payment for a task considered to be impossible: “inception”, the implantation of another person’s idea into a target’s (Ken Watanabe) subconscious.
(L to R) James D’Arcy and Kenneth Branagh in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Dunkirk.’ Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.
The story of the miraculous evacuation of Allied soldiers from Belgium, Britain, Canada and France, who were cut off and surrounded by the German army from the beaches and harbor of Dunkirk between May 26th and June 4th 1940 during World War II.
(L to R) Guy Pearce and Joe Pantoliano in Christopher Nolan’s ‘Memento.’ Photo courtesy of Summit Entertainment.
Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) is tracking down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The difficulty of locating his wife’s killer, however, is compounded by the fact that he suffers from a rare, untreatable form of short-term memory loss. Although he can recall details of life before his accident, Leonard cannot remember what happened fifteen minutes ago, where he’s going, or why.
Batman (Christian Bale) raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as the Joker (Heath Ledger).
The three-part original documentary series ‘Superpowered: The DC Story’ premieres July 20th on Max.
Premiering on Max July 20th is the three-part original documentary series ‘Superpowered: The DC Story,’ which examines the history and impact of DC Comics. The series was co-directed by Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Leslie Iwerks (‘100 Years of Warner Bros.’) and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Mark Catalena (‘Johnny Carson: King of Late Night‘), and was narrated by Rosario Dawson (‘Ahsoka’).
What is ‘Superpowered: The DC Story’ about?
‘Superpowered: The DC Story’ takes an unprecedented look at the enduring and influential legacy of DC, allowing fans to rediscover the universe of characters, as well as the iconic comic book company’s origins, its evolution and its nearly nine-decade cultural impact across every artistic medium. The series features a wealth of interviews with the industry’s most prolific creators and the actors who bring their iconic characters from the page to the screen.
Gal Gadot in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
Moviefone recently had the pleasure of speaking with co-directors Leslie Iwerks and Mark Catalena about their work on ‘Superpowered: The DC Story,’ making it different from past documentaries about DC, focusing on the good and the bad, what they learned that surprised them, the unique structure of the series, fitting the 90-year history into three episodes, assembling the interview and archival footage, and the importance of diversity in comics.
(Left) Co-directors Leslie Iwerks and (Right) co-director Mark Catalena of the three-part original documentary series ‘Superpowered: The DC Story’ which premieres July 20th on Max.
Moviefone: To begin with, there have been several documentaries about the history of DC Comics in the past, how did you approach making this series different from previous DC documentaries?
Leslie Iwerks: So I think when Warner Bros. came to me to do the DC series and also the ‘100 Years of Warner Brothers,’ they were really inspired by ‘The Imagineering Story’ at Disney for Disney+, and said, “We’d love to have you do an approach for DC that’s very similar to what you did for Disney, in that it was warts and all. Tell the story as is. Be honest. Come at it with your own take on DC through time and where the pitfalls were and where the highs were.” We basically had various layers that we weaved in, which was the artist’s story and the personal stories of the artists, but then also the business story, the competition story, the character story, and then the culture story of what’s going on out in the culture that’s influencing these comics and vice versa. So we had to weave those layers like an onion together. Then early on we talked with HBO, and it was important to them and us to basically not tell this in a totally straight chronological way, but be able to flash forward and flashback so that we could remind the audience that this is present, that these characters still live and breathe today in a different form, but this is the beginning of it. So Mark worked with our graphic designer who I thought did a really great take of this time scroller through the years to sort of remind us of, hey, we’re going back. It wasn’t always like this, or here it is today. So it was challenging to always know which one do we flash forward to and why? What’s the theme there and what’s the point of it? It was like a big puzzle.
Mark Catalena: I just wanted to add one thing to what you were saying earlier, Leslie. I think the other organizing principle for us, is that we wanted to come at it from an inspiration point of view. These are people, these are creators, from their point of view, that at some point during their life, they had a revelation, looking at a DC comic, or watching a cartoon. Something hit them hard to make them want to dedicate their lives to working in this industry and then filter that back out through their experience to inspire the next generation. So I think we wanted to really come at it from, why are these people passionate? How are they passionate? Trying to find the emotion that hit them and then dedicated their lives moving forward. We wanted to make it accessible to people. There are a lot of casual fans out there who know this more through maybe cartoons or movies, but it was important to us to say, look, that might be the entry point, but we want to show you where this all came from. We wanted to have them appreciate the source material, like 90 years of comic books. So I think that was one of our main goals, to approach it that way.
Jim Lee in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
MF: It seems like Warner Bros. gave you a lot of freedom to tell the story that you wanted and to be able to include the bad with the good. Was there anything that you discovered that you decided not to include for any reason?
LI: That’s a good question. I think, for the most part, we felt like what we included was the most relevant to the overall story we were trying to tell. Whatever subject we do, whether it be Disney and Imagineering or Warner Brothers and DC, you look at the scope of these histories and you go, there’s so many little dramas and infighting that can happen within an artist or a studio or anything. But you have to pick and choose what are the ones that really are going to matter in the scheme of the entire scope of the storytelling, the years, the span of the years? What are the things that are the big turning points versus just little infighting. Those are the things that the media might like to cover. But for something that’s a real timestamp of history and a piece that’s going to sit on a server on a streaming service for a long time, we want to make sure that we’re really hitting the most important things.
MC: I think the other thing is we wanted to not have story points feel repetitive. A creator and a corporate entity, their relationship and the creative tension, that’s a never ending battle, through any creative industry. So I feel like we’re like, let’s pick the one that’s emblematic of that. Let’s focus on it but we don’t have to hit it every single time it happens because it still happens. I don’t think that’s anything new, and I don’t think that’s necessarily something the audience wants to just keep seeing. It would get boring after a while. So I think we approached every story beat in that way of like, when did it really matter? Let’s focus on that one specific, and that’s emblematic of all of the circumstances, all the occurrences.
Dwayne Johnson in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
MF: The series includes low points in DC history like the poor treatment of Superman creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, lack of diversity and representation, and the financial failures of movies like ‘Justice League’ and ‘Black Adam.’ Was there anything that the studio asked you to not include?
MC: Look, I think there are always sensitivities around companies’ histories. I think we just wanted to approach it in a very matter of fact way and not editorialize, and basically just tell the truth, tell it neutrally and move on. I think the larger point that we kept going back to was, look, each one of these story points could have been its own documentary. It’s huge, it’s deep, it’s rabbit holes that you can fall into. We wanted to stay on the level of the scope. I think when you look at it as a whole, there’s only so much time you can really bring things up. So we’re constantly trying to think, okay, what does that add to the larger story? We would’ve liked to include a lot of stuff, but things just naturally fall away when you keep your eye on that big picture.
MF: With over 90-years of comics, movies and TV shows, there’s a lot of history to fit in and it seemed like almost everything DC has ever produced was represented in the series. Can you talk about the challenges of trying to fit everything in?
LI: I think it’s hard to acknowledge everything, and I don’t think you ever can. I think what we try to do is put things in there that are quick, perhaps, if we can’t go into coverage on them. We at least acknowledge them briefly, or they’re in the background or they’re in a montage or something, so that we can at least say we’ve acknowledged it, but we don’t necessarily have to stop, otherwise it would just become a long, rambling story. So again, it is just choosing your battles.
Mark Waid in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
MF: As a comic book fan, I know legendary names like Alex Ross, Mark Waid, and Keith Giffen, but a lot of people watching the series may not. Can you talk about the importance of highlighting the comic book creators with this series?
MC: I agree. They’re not household names. I think a large part of it though was, it’s more about what do they represent, and it’s more of their emotion and passion towards this subject that we wanted to come through. We didn’t necessarily plan to say, you need to know Mark Waid‘s entire resume. That doesn’t matter. We want to know, how does he emotionally feel about Superman, how did it affect him, and then how did he then want to affect others? It was more thematic, I think. I mean, look, talking to some of these folks, it was amazing for me. I’m a lifelong DC fan. But just hearing, I think their passion and their approach, like John Ridley and the Gene Luen Yang, there’s such depth there that was really eye-opening for us. That’s what we wanted to come through. Of course, Jenette Kahn and Karen Berger were huge gets for us. We are really happy to have them. Again, they might not be household names, but what they’ve done, if you look at what the comic industry is today, they started it. I mean, they really steered this entire industry in a direction of, we’re going to take something that was considered disposable kids’ stuff, and we’re going to turn it into legit literature and art that can be appreciated by anybody.
LI: (Jennette Kahn and Karen Berger) created graphic novels. Just the way in which people read and consume this art, the storytelling became more sophisticated, the artwork became more sophisticated. The worlds became different. They sometimes became darker, they became more marginalized characters, you name it. I felt like in that era, they were really pushing the envelope to bring new audiences in, but also relate to people that could relate to this very specific sort of world, if that makes sense.
MF: Can you talk about going through the Warner Bros. and DC Comics archives and finding the interviews and footage that you needed for this series?
LI: I think that a big shout-out goes to the archive team and Warner Bros. who would help us to put together material or find material that hadn’t been seen before. But it was Mark and the producers working in tandem every single day to find these gems that hadn’t been seen before. A lot of stuff were old interviews that had to get transcribed and then we would go through and say, what’s the most unique bite that no one’s ever heard before? That’s what we do in the beginning, is just really going through the transcripts and these old archival things and trying to find the gems. Again, the gift of working with Warner Brothers and DC was, they were all equally excited as we were to get as much new cool stuff that no one’s ever seen before.
Robert Pattinson in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
MF: The series even includes footage of Bob Kane admitting that he co-created Batman with Bill Finger, something that Kane had long denied and took sole credit for. Where did you find that?
MC: Yeah, I agree. When we saw it, we were like, wait, what? Oh my gosh, this is amazing, and kind of refutes the common knowledge in the world that he never acknowledged Bill. This is amazing. So yeah, there were things like that. Even just the old Joe Kubert, Julius Schwartz and Carmine Infantino interviews that we found. Apparently some guy at a Comic-Con just took them in a room and started filming them. It was amazing because we don’t really hear their voices anymore. So finding that stuff was really cool. I would just say also, with all the photos of the old DC offices and how they worked, that was really fun.
LI: I think also for us, we really want to bring you into that world as tangibly as we can. We want you to see the space. We want you to feel what it was like in that office. We want you to know that it was hot and it was tough, and they were struggling, and it was a man’s world, and there was one woman in there. You know what I mean? It’s like, we want you to feel that. So the more we can find those photos and bring that world to you, the better. The other thing too is, a lot of those old archival interviews obviously don’t look good, so that’s always a struggle. You don’t want to have a really low res, blurry image. So we worked with the graphic team to put them into kind of a comic book frame so that it looked more interesting. So I think that’s something Mark and I, and everyone are always trying to innovate documentaries, are always trying to say, how can we innovate graphically? How can we take the documentary form and push the boundaries and tell every new story differently with pacing, with graphics, with music, with shape, and with structure? We’re excited about always trying to be innovative.
MC: Humor as well, and look, this is a colorful subject. We want it to be fun. We want it to be fast and fun and humorous at times. But that’s kind of our approach.
James Gunn in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
MF: There have been a lot of changes recently at DC Studios with James Gunn and Peter Safran taking over. Gunn appears in the series but there is no mention of future projects like ‘Superman: Legacy.’ At what point did you have to lock the series and were unable to include any new announcements?
MC: I think it was August or September of last year. So it was before the big news of James Gunn taking over and everything. But Jim Lee loved that. He was like, look, we’ve done this. It’s a nice chapter break. Now, there’s going to be a new regime. It’s going to be a new path going forward. That’s a story that’s yet to be told. So yeah, he didn’t mind. I think it is exciting, though, that it’s not a stagnant thing. They’re always trying to innovate. They’re always trying to push, and yeah, it’s a moving target.
MF: DC Comics is more than just Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, it has also included Vertigo, WildStorm, and Milestone comics. Can you talk about highlighting all of those companies in this series, in particular Milestone?
LI: I think that it was very important and timely for Milestone to have a resurgence when it did. When you look back at the original Milestone, that was the biggest comic book sales by Black creators ever. There’s obviously an opportunity to reinvent that, to bring that back, and especially at a time when Black people’s stories needed to be told, and needed to be heard. I think that the more we bring these stories out and make them honest, truthful and relevant to our own lives, then that’s how these comic books formed from the beginning. It’s in the DNA of DC Comics. So I think that it’s exciting to see these different variations, so to speak, of storylines and characters continue to be successful.
Denis Cowan in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
MF: Leslie, were you a comic book fan before making this series and what did you learn about DC Comics that surprised you?
LI: I didn’t necessarily grow up as a DC aficionado. But I think that to me, I grew up around artists. My family, my grandfather and father are both artists. And myself, I’m an artist. So to me, reading these was inspiring, just from the artistic and story standpoint. But I never really followed the story arcs of these characters necessarily. I did grow up on the ‘Wonder Woman’ Show, though, as silly as that sounds and dates me a bit. But I love the ‘Wonder Woman’ TV show, and I watched the ‘Batman’ show. Those are sort of the campy era when I was a kid watching those. I think it was just, to me, again, the stories that I love to tell are stories about innovators, bold business people and creators who want to push the envelope in the genre that they’re working in. In this case, DC was pushing the envelope and completely reinventing itself time and time again, and finding new ways to keep their characters relevant and fresh. To me, that’s a great business story. It’s a great creative story, and those are the kinds of stories that I like to tell.
Lynda Carter in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
MF: Finally, Mark, as a comic book fan what did you learn about DC Comics that surprised you, and who is your favorite DC character?
MC: Well, I guess what I didn’t know is that it was surprising to me that, for so long, that the creators weren’t respected. There was a stigma against it. There was a shame associated with it. Then on the fan side, of course, there’s a stigma of having liked these characters. I mean, there’s growing up with, you’re a nerd if you like this stuff and whatever. Because I don’t think people understand now what that was like. It was very much in the shadows. It was very much a secret, and now it’s mainstream. It’s out in the open. So that was a big eyeopener for me, just to hear it from the creators themselves. My favorite character? There’s so many. I don’t want to be boring and say Batman, but I would think that’s probably the one. It’s just something about the fact that this is a real person. We always were like, why do these things endure, right? Why have there been thousands of stories about this one character over 85 years? It’s like, well, he doesn’t necessarily have a superpower. He’s a human. I feel like it’s the humanity that people connect with. So I think, above all else, that’s why these things touch so many people. But man, I have tons of favorites.
Margot Robbie in ‘Superpowered: The DC Story.’ Photograph by Courtesy of Max/Warner Bros.
Christopher Nolan has crafted another masterpiece with an epic historical biopic that is as captivating as it is compelling. What begins as a character study eventually unfolds into an intriguing political mystery with unexpected twists and turns. Cillian Murphy gives the performance of his career as the conflicted and complicated J. Robert Oppenheimer, while Robert Downey Jr. also gives one of his finest performances to date as Lewis Strauss, Oppenheimer’s eventual adversary.
Story and Direction
Writer, director, and producer Christopher Nolan on the set of ‘Oppenheimer.’
The three-hour long movie tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer from his early years studying physics in Germany, to eventually being recruited by the U.S. government to work on the Manhattan Project and the aftermath of the creation of the Atomic bomb. The story is mostly told in flashbacks from both Oppenheimer and Lewis Strauss’ points of views. Oppenheimer is defending his actions following WWII in a secret government meeting, while Strauss is addressing a Senate committee as he has been appointed to a cabinet position. We see the events as they unfold as memories for both characters, with Strauss’ in black and white, and Oppenheimer’s depicted in color, which also represents the characters personalities as Strauss sees the world in black and white while Oppenheimer sees bright colors.
Christopher Nolan is unarguably one of the most celebrated filmmakers of his generation and is known for making twisty movies like ‘Memento’ and ‘Inception,’ as well as historical documents like ‘Dunkirk,’ but ‘Oppenheimer’ excels because it does both at the same time and embraces everything Nolan does well. Nolan’s script is smart, cutting back and forth between both Oppenheimer and Strauss’ hearings and their individual flashbacks, and using that to frame the story of creating the Atom bomb. But the movie is also a political thriller, and has a ‘Usual Suspects’ level twist towards the end that you won’t see coming.
Nolan sets an epic tone for the film, which is grand in scope and design, and he gets the very best out of his ensemble cast. Nolan’s use of cutaways to visual effects of atoms, molecules, fire and stars representing thoughts running through Oppenheimer’s head were interesting but thankfully used sparingly. While the film is long at just about three-hours, it goes fast and Nolan uses the most of his time setting the stakes for the drama and allowing his cast room to breathe. The movie also looks gorgeous, thanks to Nolan and the work of cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema.
Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer
Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer in ‘Oppenheimer,’ written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.
Cillian Murphy is best known for playing the Scarecrow in Nolan’s ‘Dark Knight’ movies and hasn’t really had the chance to show off his talents until now. As the title character Murphy delivers a strong and layered performance with authority that gives the movie a feeling of importance and urgency. Oppenheimer is driven, egotistical, brilliant, self-absorbed and conflicted, and Murphy conveys all of this with very little effort, giving a seamless performance. This is definitely the actors best work, and I would be surprised if he doesn’t get a lot of attention come awards season.
Robert Downey Jr.’s Performance
Robert Downey Jr is Lewis Strauss in ‘Oppenheimer,’ written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.
Robert Downey Jr. is one of the most popular actors of his generation, but after a decade of playing Iron Man, it’s easy to forget just how good a dramatic actor he is and this movie helps remind us of that. Despite the title, ‘Oppenheimer’ is almost as much Downey’s movie as it is Murphy’s, and the actor completely holds his own narrative well. While the two actors share few scenes together and Downey’s role is supporting, his character is pivotal to the story and the true antagonist of the film. In a career as impressive as Downey’s, it’s hard to say this is his best performance, but it’s certainly on the short list, and I’m starting the campaign now for Downey to get nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
Supporting Cast
Matt Damon is Leslie Groves in ‘Oppenheimer,’ written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.
Nolan has always assembled incredible casts of actors for his projects, but the abundance of riches here is a bit embarrassing. The movie stars a who’s who of talented actors, and I of course can’t mention all of them, but I will say Matt Damon stands out. Damon plays Leslie Groves, the General that recruited Oppenheimer. The actor plays the role with a bit of his signature charm, which fits the otherwise serious military figure well. Damon also has good chemistry with Murphy, and the two characters forge a nice friendship together.
Surprisingly, Josh Hartnett, who’s been away from the big screen for some time makes a fantastic comeback as Ernest Lawrence, one of Oppenheimer’s colleagues. Hartnett gives a really strong performance opposite Murphy and is a wonderful addition to the cast. Benny Safdie and David Krumholtz also play colleagues of Oppenheimer and both actors bring a lot to their characters as well.
Josh Hartnett is Ernest Lawrence in ‘Oppenheimer,’ written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.
Florence Pugh also stands out and gives a very daring performance as Jean Tatlock, Oppenheimer’s first love. Pugh’s character is sweet and vulnerable, and you understand why he falls in love with her in the first place. But their story is also tragic, and Pugh’s tender performance gives her character a real voice in the movie.
Unfortunately, Emily Blunt’s performance as Oppenheimer’s wife, Kitty, did not work for me. The character was not as well-defined in the script as Jean, and while Blunt is a great actress and did her best in the role, her performance falls flat with her limited screen time. The chemistry between Oppenheimer and Kitty never quite works, especially in comparison to his relationship with Jean, but perhaps that was the point.
Emily Blunt is Kitty Oppenheimer in ‘Oppenheimer,’ written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.
(L to R) Emily Blunt is Kitty Oppenheimer and Cillian Murphy is J. Robert Oppenheimer in ‘Oppenheimer,’ written, produced, and directed by Christopher Nolan.
I would imagine that this film will be nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars next year. I’d be surprised if Nolan doesn’t get nominated as well for both Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. Depending on how the rest of the year shapes up, he’ll probably walk away with at least one of those awards. Nolan’s been nominated five times before and never won, and right now, this seems like the movie and the year where he might actually win.
I think Cillian Murphy has a great chance of being nominated for Best Actor, and certainly deserves it, but I’m really hoping that Robert Downey Jr. is rewarded for his incredible performance here, as well as his overall body of work. Florence Pugh also has a chance at a Best Supporting Actress nomination, but that will really rely on who the rest of the competition will be. I would also imagine the film will receive several technical nominations as well as cinematography for Hoyte van Hoytema.
Final Thoughts
In the end, ‘Oppenheimer’ is another Christopher Nolan masterpiece. A movie that works both as a compelling historical biopic, and an intriguing political thriller with brilliant performances from Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr.
‘Oppenheimer’ received 9.5 out of 10 stars
(L to R) Cillian Murphy (as J. Robert Oppenheimer) and writer, director, and producer Christopher Nolan on the set of ‘Oppenheimer.’
Created by Bob Kane and Bill Finger in 1939, Batman has remained a beloved character in pop culture for over 80-years. There have been over a dozen live action movies made about the character since his big screen debut in 1943, as well as several animated features and cameo appearances.
With Michael Keaton returning as Bruse Wayne and Batman in ‘The Flash,’ which opens in theaters on June 16th, Moviefone is counting down the top 14 cinematic Batman appearances of all time! For this list, we are including any live action or animated film featuring Batman, as long as it was originally released theatrically.
Following the death of District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Batman (Christian Bale) assumes responsibility for Dent’s crimes to protect the late attorney’s reputation and is subsequently hunted by the Gotham City Police Department. Eight years later, Batman encounters the mysterious Selina Kyle (Anne Hathaway) and the villainous Bane (Tom Hardy), a new terrorist leader who overwhelms Gotham’s finest. The Dark Knight resurfaces to protect a city that has branded him an enemy.
Batman (Val Kilmer) must battle a disfigured district attorney (Tommy Lee Jones) and a disgruntled former employee (Jim Carrey) with help from an amorous psychologist (Nicole Kidman) and a young circus acrobat (Chris O’Donnell)).
When a powerful criminal, who is connected to Bruce Wayne’s ex-girlfriend (Dana Delany), blames the Dark Knight for killing a crime lord, Batman (Kevin Conroy) decides to fight against him.
Fearing the actions of a god-like Super Hero left unchecked, Gotham City’s own formidable, forceful vigilante takes on Metropolis’s most revered, modern-day savior, while the world wrestles with what sort of hero it really needs. With Batman (Ben Affleck) and Superman (Henry Cavill) at war with one another, a new threat quickly arises, putting mankind in greater danger than it’s ever known before.
Driven by tragedy, billionaire Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) dedicates his life to uncovering and defeating the corruption that plagues his home, Gotham City. Unable to work within the system, he instead creates a new identity, a symbol of fear for the criminal underworld – The Batman.
From Warner Bros. Pictures comes Matt Reeves‘ “The Batman,” starring Robert Pattinson in the dual role of Gotham City’s vigilante detective and his alter ego, reclusive billionaire Bruce Wayne.
Determined to ensure Supermanan’s (Henry Cavill) ultimate sacrifice was not in vain, Bruce Wayne (Ben Affleck) aligns forces with Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) with plans to recruit a team of metahumans to protect the world from an approaching threat of catastrophic proportions. The task proves more difficult than Bruce imagined, as each of the recruits must face the demons of their own pasts to transcend that which has held them back, allowing them to come together, finally forming an unprecedented league of heroes.
Now united, Batman (Affleck), Wonder Woman (Gadot), Aquaman (Jason Momoa), Cyborg (Ray Fisher), and The Flash (Ezra Miller) may be too late to save the planet from Steppenwolf (Ciaran Hinds), DeSaad (Peter Guinness), and Darkseid (Ray Porter) and their dreadful intentions.
When his attempt to save his family inadvertently alters the future, Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) becomes trapped in a reality in which General Zod (Michael Shannon) has returned and there are no Super Heroes to turn to. In order to save the world that he is in and return to the future that he knows, Barry’s only hope is this universe’s Batman (Michael Keaton). But will making the ultimate sacrifice be enough to reset the universe?
A cooler-than-ever Bruce Wayne (Will Arnett) must deal with the usual suspects as they plan to rule Gotham City, while discovering that he has accidentally adopted a teenage orphan who wishes to become his sidekick (Michael Cera).
Batman (Michael Keaton) must face his most ruthless nemesis when a deformed madman calling himself “The Joker” (Jack Nicholson) seizes control of Gotham’s criminal underworld.
Batman (Christian Bale) raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as the Joker (Heath Ledger).
Having famously switched his filmmaking operations to Universal from longtime home Warner Bros. after dissatisfaction with the straight-to-HBO handling of some movies and its treatment of ‘Tenet’, Christopher Nolan has been working away on his next movie, ‘Oppenheimer’.
Universal, naturally, is going all out to promote this one, including with this first, unusual teaser, which features fragments of footage from the film, some voice-over dialogue referring to its subject matter and an ominous countdown clock.
Some have speculated that it’s to the release date – but not in America, as those figures don’t sync up. But with the movie opening in Singapore the day before its Stateside release, it makes more sense.
Nolan here is adapting the Pulitzer Prize-winning book ‘American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer’ by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin. It chronicles how he was part of the infamous Manhattan Project and played a key role in the creation of atomic weapons, yet later came to have complicated feelings about their deadly power. He lobbied for international control of nuclear power and opposed the creation of the even more destructive hydrogen bomb.
Cillian Murphy, a Nolan regular, plays Oppenheimer, who is glimpsed briefly in this first footage.
Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in ‘Oppenheimer’ written and directed by Christopher Nolan.
Emily Blunt is playing his wife, biologist, and botanist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer, with Matt Damon as General Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project and Robert Downey, Jr. as Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.
Florence Pugh will portray psychiatrist Jean Tatlock, who turns out to have a hidden agenda, while Benny Safdie plays theoretical physicist Edward Teller. Michael Angarano is physicist Robert Serber and Josh Hartnett plays pioneering American nuclear scientist Ernest Lawrence.
Look, at this point it’s probably easier just to list the people who aren’t in Nolan’s latest. It might be the first end credits crawl in years where the cast runs for a longer time than the effects teams.
‘Oppenheimer’ sees Nolan tackling a historical subject again, and one that surely offers the opportunity for plenty of his terse dialogue and large-canvas visions. It won’t surprise you to learn that it has been shot and be and released on 65mm IMAX and large-format film. Providing the beautiful footage is another repeat Nolan colleague, director of photography Hoyte Van Hoytema, while composer Ludwig Göransson returns after scoring ‘Tenet’. A pulse-pounding biopic thriller with high stakes certainly feels like it could work well for Nolan.
‘Oppenheimer’ will be in theaters here from July 21st.
Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in ‘Oppenheimer’ written and directed by Christopher Nolan.
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