Oppenheimer: The 6 Christopher Nolan Movies That Sported A Bigger Budget
Despite never making it to the number one spot at the box office, "Oppenheimer" has had an incredible run at the box office. The film has already cleared $700 million, and that's pretty impressive for a biopic about a scientist. Still, even with that kind of performance behind it, Christopher Nolan is competing with himself, being that "The Dark Knight," "The Dark Knight Rises," and "Inception" each have higher grosses.
However, there's another way that "Oppenheimer," which is approaching an interesting box office record, can be compared and contrasted with other Nolan projects: its budget. After all, movies aren't generally considered a success until they're well past clearing the cost of making the film in the first place. In that regard, there are an astounding six movies from the director's filmography that cost more than Nolan's latest film.
At the top is the superhero trilogy wrapper, "The Dark Knight Rises." The epic sequel had more than double the budget of "Oppenheimer," with a cost of $230 million, putting it well past the $100 million cost of the writer-director's most recent film. Meanwhile, the time-bending spy thriller "Tenet" comes up next in line, with a budget of $205 million.
Oppenheimer isn't as expensive as it might appear to be
Given that "Oppenheimer" features dozens of recognizable actors, is a period drama that takes place across three different timelines, and even simulates a real-life atomic blast with a practical explosion, you'd think that the movie would be among Christopher Nolan's priciest projects. However, there are still four more films from the director that had bigger budgets.
The genre-defining hit, "The Dark Knight," is third in line, with a budget of $185 million, and is followed up by another time-bending science fiction picture in the form of "Interstellar," with a $165 million budget. The dream-based heist movie "Inception" comes in next, with a cost of $160 million, and is trailed by "Batman Begins" at $150 million and "Dunkirk," which matches the $100 million budget of "Oppenheimer."
This leaves Nolan's first three films, "Following," "Memento," and "Insomnia," as films with lower budgets than "Oppenheimer," along with the magician feud period piece, "The Prestige." This means that while "Oppenheimer" has yet to catch up to three of the director's previous films, it may still end up being more profitable in the long run, based on its lower cost.