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Oppenheimer continues to climb the charts. It is now the No. 2 highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, racking up $788 million globally. It recently surpassed Deadpool 2 ($786 million) and now trails only Joker ($1.074 billion) on the charts for R-rated movies.
Oppenheimer has made the majority of its money ($486 million) from international markets, with the rest ($302 million) coming from the domestic box office.
Released on the same day as Barbie ($1.34 billion)–which is expected to surpass The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($1.35 billion) to become 2023’s biggest film–Oppenheimer is also director Christoper Nolan’s biggest non-Batman movie ever in the US.
Oppenheimer tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the chief architect of the world’s first atomic bomb. It’s the No. 2 highest-grossing biopic of all time, trailing only Bohemian Rhapsody, which told the story of Queen singer Freddie Mercury.
Oppenheimer was, remarkably, filmed in under 60 days, but that wasn’t always the plan. Production designer Ruth De Jong said on a recent episode of the Team Deakins podcast (via Variety) that Nolan cut 30 days of filming to re-allocate the budget to focus on improving production design and sets.
“Just plane tickets alone and putting crew up all over the place [is expensive]. Not to mention I have to build Los Alamos, it doesn’t exist,” De Jong said. “That’s where I really felt like it was impossible. Chris said, ‘Forget the money. Let’s just design what we want.’ So that’s what we did.”
Highest-grossing R-rated movies ever worldwide
Joker — $1.074 billionOppenheimer — $788 millionDeadpool 2 — $786 millionDeadpool — $783 millionThe Matrix Reloaded — $742 millionIt — $702 millionDetective Chinatown 3 — $686 millionLogan — $619 millionThe Passion of the Christ — $612 millionThe Hangover: Part II — $587 million
