OPPENHEIMER (2023): Christopher Nolan’s Tentpole Summer Movie Will Have a Running Time of 3 Hours

Oscar Bait Film Will Have an Epic Running Time

It has been revealed that Christopher Nolan‘s big summer extravaganza, Oppenheimer, will carry a length of 3 hours.

Yes, Christopher Nolan’s last film, Tenet, was a bit of an under-performer at the box-office but it was released at the height of the pandemic. Don’t expect audiences to avoid seeing the star-studded event picture coming this July from Nolan, Oppenheimer. This is one movie that streaming on a television will not do justice. It has now been reported by one of the movie’s stars, Matt Damon, that the picture will carry a running time of approximately 3 hours. Movie theater owners are probably already hiring staff for the summer to make popcorn for this movie event that could play all summer long. Expect this upcoming film to be one of the major movies to beat at next year’s Oscars as well.

Cillian Murphy will be playing the title role in Nolan’s movie. He will be playing J. Robert Oppenheimer and people are already starting to pencil Murphy into the Best Actor race next year for his leading performance in the picture. Damon says that Murphy is “phenomenal.” Coming from the Oscar-nominated actor, Damon, that is not praise to be taken lightly at all.

Nolan has based this upcoming movie on a Pulitzer Prize-winning book and while Pulitzer Prize winners are not always smash hits (see: The Goldfinch), movies with a cast as amazing as Oppenheimer are few and far between. Nolan is also long overdue for an Oscar for Best Director. Matt Damon and Robert Downey, Jr. top line the male talent in the film beside Murphy while Emily Blunt is going to be a true leading lady to contend with. Oscar forgot to nod for Blunt in Mary Poppins Returns. The Academy won’t fail to include Blunt on this year’s list of nominees if the performance she gives is as good as what audiences are expecting from her.

Could Florence Pugh get another supporting nod for her turn in Nolan’s forthcoming epic film? Let’s be honest, we could have a whole list of Oscar contenders from Oppenheimer alone. Oscar will have some tough decisions to make.

Three-hour running times sometimes work miracles for epic movies like Oppenheimer. It took a 3-hour plus historical epic called Titanic to win James Cameron his Best Director Oscar. Three hours feels like a strong running time for a similar historical movie of Oppenheimer‘s big ambitions. Another movie three hours plus in length that won the Best Picture Oscar was The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Granted, that was about 20 years ago, but it’s time for Nolan to finally make his masterpiece and for a film of epic proportions to be honored sufficiently.

Even if Oppenheimer doesn’t get all the Oscar love it will most likely deserve in the major categories (who are we kidding, it probably will), this film is certain to triumph in many of the technical categories and bring home sizable box-office grosses. If there’s any movie that’s going to get people into theaters this summer, it’s Oppenheimer which opens July 21st.

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