Oppenheimer tells the story of the world-renowned American theoretical physicist Robert J. Oppenheimer and his endeavor to create the atomic bomb in what later became known as the Manhattan Project. The two-minute-long trailer begins with the introduction of Oppenheimer, who delivers a monologue in the form of narration, explaining the unimaginable power that they’re trying to create and stating that they’ll only understand it once it’s used. During the course of the narration, the trailer provides little peeks into the construction and the assembly of the first atomic bomb. The trailer then shows Oppenheimer’s reluctance to conduct the experiment, revealing his doubts about who can be trusted to wield such a weapon. Oppenheimer’s budget is actually a more “reasonable” $100 million, a figure that pales if you compare it to most of Nolan’s past projects. However, the British-American filmmaker disclosed that the film was the most challenging project he had undertaken in his career in terms of scale. With an ensemble cast that’s sure to pull a lot of people to theaters and a marketing budget that’s equal to the production budget, Oppenheimer is set to perform well at the box office next year. Due to the in-studio row between Nolan and Warner Bros. over the simultaneous theatrical and HBO Max streaming release strategy, Oppenheimer, which will be released in theaters on July 21, 2023, will be distributed by Universal Pictures. However, in what doesn’t seem to be a coincidence, Warner Bros. has scheduled the release date of the upcoming live-action Barbie film on the same day as Oppenheimer’s release date. We can only assume that Warner Bros. might not have taken Nolan’s decision to part ways with them too well. Judging from the trailer and the earlier images we saw of Oppenheimer though, it’s safe to say that Nolan has this one down pat.
