Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” Is Officially Rated R diverse Confirms with Universal Pictures. The film is Nolan’s first film for the studio after his long stint at Warner Bros., directing tentpoles like “Interstellar,” “Inception,” and his Dark Knight trilogy. “Oppenheimer” will be Nolan’s first R-rated feature since 2002’s “Insomniac.”
The director confirmed last month that “Oppenheimer” is the longest film of his career to date, breaking the three-hour mark. What does that mean for film prints? The Associated Press reports that “Oppenheimer” is so long that IMAX prints are “11 miles of film stock” that “weighs about 600 pounds.” Like on the course, Nolan shot the movie with a large format film camera. Universal Pictures has now made tickets available for the movie in premium theaters such as IMAX 70mm, 70mm, IMAX digital, 35mm, Dolby Cinema, and more.
Nolan told the Associated Press that the “best possible experience” watching “Oppenheimer” is in IMAX 70mm film format. However, this format is only in 25 theaters across North America. Some of these venues include AMC Universal CityWalk in Los Angeles, AMC Lincoln Square in New York, Cinemark Dallas, Regal King of Prussia near Philadelphia and AutoNation IMAX in Fort Lauderdale.
“The sharpness, clarity and depth of the image is unparalleled,” said Nolan. “The title, for me, is shooting on IMAX 70mm film, you really let the screen disappear. You feel like 3D without the glasses. You have a huge screen and it fills the audience’s peripheral vision. You immerse them in the world of the movie.”
Large format theaters are also essential for experiencing movie sound design. Nolan’s films have been criticized in the past for being too loud, but it looks like “Oppenheimer” might blow the roof off theaters when it comes time to show the Trinity Test, which marks the first detonation of a nuclear weapon.
“We knew that had to be the most important factor,” Nolan told the Associated Press. “We’re able to do things with pictures now before we were only able to do it with sound in terms of a huge impact on the audience—an almost physical sense of response to the film.”
Nolan has already revealed that he was able to simulate the explosion of the atomic bomb without relying on visual effects. Oppenheimer follows theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer as he leads the Manhattan Project and builds the atomic bomb to end World War II. Cillian Murphy stars as Oppenheimer opposite Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh and more.
Oppenheimer opens in theaters July 21 nationwide.
Additional reporting by Jazz Tangcay.
