From raking in massive footfalls in numbers to facing the wrath of Hollywood’s hellish summer of strikes, the 2023 box office collections rivaled an Alfred Hitchcock directorial. And its climax was undoubtedly the intriguing race between Barbie and Oppenheimer that had everyone at the edge of their seats. Everyone except The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which had already attained its ‘Star Rod’ and more by crossing the $770 Million mark.

Barbie managed to catch up to the Mario Brothers, leaving behind Oppenheimer, which was predicted to have a Pearl Harbor impact at the box office in 2023. Was it because Barbie chose Birkenstocks? Or was it because Oppenheimer is more of a brain-altering movie instead of a billion-dollar-making one?

Has Oppenheimer really lost the box office race?

Even the greatest box office analysts could not fill in Nostradamus’ shoes as a three-movie-old Greta Gerwig directorial gave Oppenheimer a run for its money. The cherry on top being the dumbfounding numbers that The Super Mario Bros. movie scored. But cinephiles insist that the only logical reasoning behind this is that the footfalls at the box office could not rival its greatness. After all, it is Christopher Nolan’s work of art.

Barbie and Oppenheimer were both released on the 21st of July. As days passed by, the pink bulldozer made a beeline to the billion mark, while Oppenheimer crawled. The biographical thriller may have not hit the billion mark, but it did something way greater.

With a $100 million budget, an irrevocable reputation, and the determination to present a sans-CGI nuclear explosion, fortunately, devoid of dangers, Christopher Nolan presented to the cinema once again a blueprint that could help it thrive.

Christopher Nolan has done it again

Hit the ball out of the park there times and it is called a hat trick. Hit it out of the park at each attempt, and it is called a Christopher Nolan. The director used cameras with the highest resolutions known to man to capture one of humanity’s deadliest creations. As CGI takes over filmmaking and Oscar-winning actors state being left in a warehouse with dots stuck on them as their worst fears, Oppenheimer, with its out-of-the-box storytelling and depiction, pushes the ball in the right direction.

Nolan ensured through a pact with Universal a three-month stay for his movie at the box office. And at a time when Hollywood fights it out with streamers, Christopher Nolan putting his foot down for Oppenheimer‘s extended stay at the box office is nothing short of God’s hand if cinema has ever seen one. This is how Oppenheimer has set an example for movies to come through picturesque perfection and pitch.

Why do you think Barbie and The Super Mario Bros. Movie triumphed over Oppenheimer? Let us know in the comments below.