Oppenheimer trailer gives first look at Chritopher Nolan’s atomic bomb epic

Universal released its first trailer. Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s film about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientist closely associated with the invention and detonation of the first atomic bomb in the 1940s.

It is a serious and epic scene. We see the Manhattan Project in New Mexico prepare the bomb, and Cillian Murphy as Oppenheimer watches, shocked at its creation.

“They won’t fear it until they understand it, and they won’t understand it until they’ve used it,” he says in voiceover. “I don’t know if we can be trusted with such a weapon.”

Many TenetAnd Inception director Nolan’s preoccupations are present and correct: science, explosions, awe at the mysteries of the universe, fear of the cost of progress. Notably It is not You can see most of Nolan’s supporting cast including Emily Blunt (Blut), Matt Damon Jr. and Robert Downey Jr. as well as Florence Pugh. Benny Safdie. Josh Hartnett. Rami Malk. Kenneth Branagh is reported to have made a brief appearance.

Nolan loves filmmaking and practical effects.Oppenheimer is shot on 65mm IMAX film by regular Nolan collaborator Hoyte van Hoytema, including a world-first sequence of analogue IMAX black-and-white photography) claims to have recreated an atomic test “without the use of computer graphics” for the movie. Yikes.

Oppenheimer will be released on July 21, 2023, which is the very same day that Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie’s BarbieIn theaters BarbieThe subject of an equally epic teaser trailer, although less serious, was just recently released. 2001: A Space Odyssey by Nolan’s idol Stanley Kubrick.

Although they have very different themes, both films rank high in the next year’s most-anticipated list (even more after the trailers), have star casts, hot directors and a budget reported at $100 million. It’s rare to see two big studio beasts such as these pitted directly against each other at the box office.

There’s an extra bit of spice to this rivalry: Oppenheimer Universal Pictures will distribute it, a departure from Nolan, who had been with Warner Bros. for twenty years, before breaking off with Warner Bros. because of its move to streaming. Barbie’s distributor? Why, it’s Warner Bros.