Redolent

Unfortunately delayed until the end August…might even be banned.

It’s interesting to think there were zero cinemas in Saudi Arabia until 2018, and to see Oppenheimer now grossing $2+ mil there. A rapidly expanding market in the region for sure.

I kind of agree with this in terms of opening power, but I still think you understate the journey to how this movie became such a cultural behemoth over the last 4-8 weeks. For months and months it was fermenting away excitedly on film Twitter and other places, and again, Gerwig’s name was crucial to that. The memes and the pure enthusiasm originated there and finally spilled out into the mainstream.

Some bad takes on Gerwig’s impact on Barbie BO. No, she’s not a household name like Nolan, but the reason Gosling and the rest of the cast signed on is because of her, and the strength of her script. You think they would have attached themselves to a basic kids movie? So yes, her presence shaped the idea of Barbie as a quality, adult oriented film from the beginning.

Tired of people and their crappy takes on why Oppenheimer should have been another type of movie. Of course Altman is not stupid here - he hasn’t missed the message, he just doesn’t like it (and the implications for the AI sector)

Market highlights for Oppenheimer include the UK where Oppenheimer opened to $4.2M on Friday. That’s 14% higher than Dunkirk, which we thought might have had an edge given its UK-centric story. The start was the 2nd biggest Friday ever for a Nolan film and the biggest opening Friday for a non-superhero Nolan film as well as the 10th biggest Universal opening day of all time. Fifty-two IMAX and 70mm IMAX screens took 19% share of the Friday total in the UK with top site BFI IMAX’s Friday gross the biggest ever result for that cinema. In France, Oppenheimer is at a running total of $3.5M through Friday, performing above most Nolan comps. Germany has reached a running total of $2.8M through yesterday; Saudi Arabia is at $2.6M and Mexico has reached a running total of $1.9M. In the latter, this is the biggest Nolan opening in IMAX with performance in the format 15% ahead of Spider-Man: No Way Home and just 13% below Avengers: Infinity War.

Can someone explain this media fixation with the sex scenes in Oppenheimer? They would have made people yawn in the 90s, but now they’re accompanied by so much handwringing. has the last decade of sexless cinema messed people up?

Oppenheimer target audience has woken up from their naps. The fightback begins.

If you know nothing about it the main poster gives huge Hunger Games vibes lol

You can run it through translate (it’s a long rant), but eg this tweet from an Egyptian movie blogger that got traction, saying how Oppenheimer was wrongly marketed as an thriller and was disappointing on different levels, majority of the scenes just talking in rooms, didn’t really require IMAX etc.

I guess so - tweets from disappointed people that are popular, anecdotes on Reddit etc. But maybe they are really the minority 🤷🏼‍♀️

Yep I’ve heard this too. When reviews started coming out it was repeatedly said that this is not for casual moviegoers…so I’m surprised scores are as high as they currently are, but they will come down I guess.

It’s not at all about offensiveness (it’s fine), just the mature themes especially in the second half. A lot of younger kids will be bored or confused.

Starting to get some good promotion from social media personalities

How many times did people comment before that this is not a kids movie (based on advanced screenings) and were shot down here? WB were indeed dumb to advertise the movie blatantly in front of toy shops. I reckon bored and/or crying children and annoyed parents walking out of theatre will be the main risk to the CinemaScore. Most audiences seem to like it even with a few small reservations, some love it.

I wonder if Nolan is going to pull off another Inception here where the promise is to leave the viewer feeling smart and sophisticated for having made it through the 3 hours.

Funny, disgruntled reactions from many Oppenheimer viewers in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the Middle East, where it’s been hyped for months. There was an expectation that this would be some kind of action movie 🤣 Audience very much divided.

It’s funny that Grace critiqued Oppenheimer for insufficient likeable characters. I wonder what she’ll think of Killers of the Flower Moon.

It doesn’t surprise me that Nolan is prone to writing stilted dialogue. But I didn’t see him call out the instances of dialogue in Barbie which sound like the writer’s thoughts transplanted straight into stock characters: High school students: “You represent everything wrong with our culture. You destroyed the planet with your glorification of rampant consumerism — you fascist!” Barbie: “She thinks I’m a fascist?! I don’t control the railways or the flow of commerce.” —- Of course, you can say that this is just meant to be satirical and absurdist and is not a reflection of real world dialogue, even if the scene is set there. This kind of metaness is a defence mechanism that protects from critique. It’s another reason why Nolan is so memeable - he’s often painfully earnest and sincere. Leaves him more more to criticism, but when it works it does so powerfully. It’s good to see all kinds of perspectives anyway. I’ve seen critique of the dialogue flagged up before in one French review.

I saw a funny comment which was like ‘Speed Racer walked so that Barbie could run’. We could be at a time where the campness and chaos is indeed embraced unlike these movies of the past.

In some ways it’s not promising. What’s interesting is how these movies were rejected by audiences. Audience reception on RT: Altman’s Popeye: 39% Josie and the Pussycats: 52% Mars Attacks!: 53% Where The Wild Things Are: 57% But maybe mass audiences are ready for Barbie in a way that weren’t at the time for some of these movies/ now cult classics ?

British critics showing early signs of cynicism🥸

Yes, Cineworld, Odeon, Vue are the largest chains.

A couple that I’ve seen mention the movie dipping midway, but it’s still overall entertaining and/or nails the ending

Masochist?