How Nolan bounced back from Tenet to make a bomb
THE massive box office success of Oppenheimer has seen it take $957,000,000 (€877,095,000) globally . . . and counting. Made on a relatively modest $100 million (€91million) budget, the cerebral epic is the most successful biopic ever made — bigger than 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody, and people thought that was a phenomenon.
But as director Christopher Nolan prepares to take the Best Picture and Best Director statuettes for his movie, has it also been the most financially successful project of all? When he was shopping Oppenheimer around, numerous sources say Nolan asked for — and got — a deal (with Universal) to have 20 per cent of the ‘first-dollar gross’ (the box office takings from the first day of release onwards).
That would mean the director, born and raised in Britain, is now about $200million (€183m) richer, and suddenly one of the wealthiest men in Hollywood. Neither Universal nor Nolan’s publicist will comment. An insider says: ‘Nolan is a canny operator who provides a near-guaranteed return for studios, so he is able to control the terms of his deals to a greater extent than almost any other filmmaker.’
The sweet deal came about after Nolan’s long-standing relationship with Warner Bros ran into trouble over the release of Tenet.
That $200 million (€183m) film came out in September 2020, in the teeth of the pandemic and after friction over thrice-delayed release dates. The reviews were middling, and the box office also tepid.
The following year, with the idea for Oppenheimer formed and scripts written, executives from Universal, Sony, Paramount and Apple all visited Nolan at his Hollywood Hills home to hear what he wanted.
He demanded a production budget of about $100 million (€91m) and an equal marketing spend; total creative control; 20 per cent of first-dollar gross; and a blackout period, meaning the company would not release another movie three weeks before or after his film. Plus a theatrical window of over 100 days.
Apple were not willing to commit to putting the film in cinemas for that long, and Paramount were out early. But Sony and Universal were apparently rivals to the end.