After an early screening, “ Dune” filmmaker Denis Villeneuve mentioned he knew he’d simply seen “a masterpiece.” He even remembered saying that it will be an enormous success.

“But where it is right now has blown the roof off of my projection,” Villeneuve informed The Associated Press. “It’s a three-hour movie about people talking about nuclear physics.”

As of Monday, “Oppenheimer’s” world complete was almost $913 million, making it Nolan’s third highest grossing movie, trailing solely the “Dark Knight” sequels. It’s additionally the third greatest movie of the yr behind “Barbie” and “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and probably the most profitable biopic ever, surpassing “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It’s a staggering sum that has been pushed by audiences of all ages and an enthusiasm for movie and huge format screenings.

“When you make a film, you hope that you’re going to connect with an audience in some form or another,” “Oppenheimer” producer Emma Thomas informed the AP. “But, particularly with a three-hour film that has a serious subject and is challenging in many ways, this sort of success is beyond our wildest imaginings.”

Even after 9 weeks in theaters, 11 of the 25 screens able to projecting the coveted IMAX 70mm prints ( Nolan’s most popular format ) continued to play the movie on a few of the busiest screens, just like the TCL Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles and the AMC Lincoln Square in New York.

“The reason we’re still in those theaters is because the audience is demanding it,” Thomas mentioned. “This is not something that we can impose — I wish we could, but it’s genuine.”

Thomas, who’s married to Nolan, has produced all of his movies going again to his brief “Doodlebug.” From “Memento” and “The Prestige” to “Inception,” “Interstellar” and “Dunkirk,” their authentic movies have typically defied typical box-office logic. With “Oppenheimer,” they felt good about what they’d made but in addition know that {the marketplace}, and box-office monitoring, has been a bit unpredictable because the pandemic.

“Chris has always made films that challenge audiences,” Thomas mentioned. “He has faith in his audiences and, generally, they’ve met him where he is.”

Their “pipe dream,” she mentioned, was that it will beat “Dunkirk’s” opening weekend. Instead, it almost doubled it. Now, “Oppenheimer” has many within the business trying on the Universal Pictures launch as a gratifying affirmation that projection and format aren’t simply the area of some. Mass audiences have an interest too.

“When a filmmaker as strong as Chris is pointing a finger at you and telling you where to go…you listen…and audiences have been rewarded for it,” filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson wrote in an electronic mail. “I know some film buffs who drove from El Paso to Dallas to see the film properly. That’s about 18 hours round trip.”

Twenty-four of the 25 high incomes theaters exhibiting “Oppenheimer” performed it in IMAX 70mm or 70mm. Domestically, the 25 IMAX 70mm screens have grossed some $20 million; normal 70mm areas accounted for over $14 million. And this a decade after manufacturing of Kodak movement image movie inventory almost ceased.

“I don’t think there’s anyone who could disagree – seeing ‘Oppenheimer’ on film is superior in every single way,” Anderson mentioned. “Not to mention, people are tired of asking, ‘Why would I go to a movie theater to watch TV?’ Good question…you don’t have to anymore.”

Theaters rallied round “Oppenheimer” from the start. The historic TCL Chinese Theatre even introduced a movie projector again into operation and constructed a customized sales space. It was an effort that was richly rewarded: “Oppenheimer” is the very best grossing movie in its 97-year historical past with $2.3 million and counting, passing the earlier file holder, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which grossed $1.5 million in 15 weeks, after simply 4.

The highest grossing theater general, although, is AMC Lincoln Square, the place each IMAX 70mm exhibiting was offered out for over 4 weeks. Both areas are among the many 10 that may proceed to current the movie in IMAX 70mm in its tenth weekend. By distinction, “Dunkirk” completed its IMAX 70mm run in week eight.

What to make of theaters projecting films on movie typically outgrossing the digital projection?

“I would call this is nature’s way of healing,” Anderson mentioned.

Nolan, and different influential movie fans like Anderson, Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino have been beating the drum for celluloid for years, however Thomas mentioned it looks like, “This is a moment where everyone else is sort of catching that bug.

“Chris has always talked a lot about the formats and wanting people to see the best version possible, as far as the way that he intended the film to be seen. … Now I’m hearing that there are other studios who are interested in putting their films out on those film screens,” she mentioned. “It’s not that we think that film is the only way. Every every project is different and requires a different toolkit. We’ve always just wanted filmmakers to have that option.”

And it’s not completely movie that’s succeeding both. IMAX general has seen a few of its greatest income ever from “Oppenheimer,” with over $179 million globally.

“The future of cinema is IMAX and the large formats,” Villeneuve mentioned. “The audience wants to see something that they cannot have at home, that they cannot have on streaming. They want to experience an event.”

About a month into “Oppenheimer’s” run, Thomas took her youngsters to see a matinee of “Theater Camp” and peeked into the auditorium the place their film was taking part in “just to see how it was doing.

“It was packed, like it was 7pm, Friday night, opening weekend,” she mentioned. “But what was fantastic was seeing the broad range of people in that screening. It was younger people, it was older people. That excitement in theaters is why we make movies.”

Thomas has discovered it particularly gratifying that the movie has reached youthful audiences and youngsters, whom she was informed time and time once more don’t have the eye span for a movie like “Oppenheimer.”

“We have teenagers and everyone’s sort of dismissing them as potential audiences,” Thomas mentioned. “They think they’re just not into longform storytelling or big ideas and that’s complete nonsense. … It’s just been incredibly touching, honestly, to hear people talk about the film and hear about young people going to see it multiple times.”

“Oppenheimer” can be persevering with to play completely in theaters into the autumn, in a time when even the most important films are sometimes launched in houses after simply 45 days. Though its opening weekend companion, “Barbie,” is newly on video-on-demand, “Oppenheimer” gained’t be out there to look at at residence till late November, Thomas mentioned.

As far as what occurs to the 600lb, 11-mile-long IMAX 70mm prints, Thomas laughed that after 9 weeks of use, some are in all probability going to wish a little bit of a relaxation. But she hopes that there shall be alternatives for re-releases with those which might be in fine condition.

“We’ve been incredibly lucky in our careers. We’ve had some really great moments before. We’ve had some very successful films that have allowed us to continue making films,” she mentioned. “But I would argue that this one is the most successful when you look at what the film was and then how it’s played out.”

For filmmakers, its import extends past a single film.

“There’s this notion that movies, in some people’s minds, became content instead of an art form. I hate that word, ‘content,’” Villeneuve mentioned. “That movies like ‘Oppenheimer’ are released on the big screen and become an event brings back a spotlight on the idea that it’s a tremendous art form that needs to be experienced in theaters.”