Christopher Nolan‘s massive 2023 hit Oppenheimer helped Universal break a 7-year Disney streak of box office domination. Although Warner Bros. took the top spot with the highest-grossing film of the year Barbie at $1.44 billion, becoming the 14th highest-grossing movie of all time, the 2023 year in movies was otherwise dominated by Universal and Disney, respectively. Universal came in first in the total box office rankings with $4.91 billion in global earnings, knocking Disney off its comfortable number 1 spot, a title that it has held for the past seven years.
Disney still totaled an impressive $4.82 billion in global earnings, which was heavily supported by James Cameron’s 2022 blockbuster Avatar: The Way of Water. That film earned a whopping $2.3 billion worldwide and became the third highest-grossing movie of all time. Disney had previously led the competition in terms of total revenue compared to other big studios thanks to its highly profitable Marvel Cinematic Universe, but an underwhelming showing from the MCU in 2023, mixed with a phenomenal year from Universal, caused the industry giant to fall to the number 2 spot for the first time in seven years.
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Universal Beat Disney In 2023 – And It’s (Mostly) Thanks To Christopher Nolan
Universal beat Disney thanks to two hugely successful movies that ranked in the number 2 and number 3 spots at the worldwide box office in 2023: The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. The Super Mario Bros. Movie generated an astounding $1.36 billion, nearly beating out Barbie for the highest-grossing film of the year. Oppenheimer came in at an impressive third, especially for an R-rated film, thanks to the Barbenheimer sensation that became a cultural event in Summer 2023. Oppenheimer’s $951 million total at the box office was the key factor that pushed Universal to the top of its class.
There were other big hits at Universal such as the late entry Five Nights at Freddy’s and the January 2023 horror film M3GAN, which racked in $289 million and $180 million, respectively. The Super Mario Bros. Movie was of course the biggest contributor in making Universal the most profitable movie studio of 2023, but without Oppenheimer, it likely wouldn’t have had a chance at beating Disney. In truth, it’s a bit of a lucky anomaly for Universal, since Nolan had historically made movies with Warner Bros. before a dispute over simultaneous theatrical releases with their MAX streaming platform.
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Oppenheimer Was A Reminder Of Christopher Nolan’s Box Office Power
Let’s not call Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer a comeback, since the acclaimed director has historically had an excellent box office turnout and is still considered one of the most prolific filmmakers working today. But Oppenheimer certainly demonstrated Nolan’s might at the box office when he has one of the most talked-about movies of the year. Oppenheimer is also one of Nolan’s best critical works, which some of his other releases haven’t had to help boost its ticket sales. Needless to say, Barbenheimer fueled much of the attraction for Oppenheimer, but the excitement of seeing a Nolan film in theaters should not be understated.
Oppenheimer was Nolan’s biggest movie in eleven years since The Dark Knight Rises, which still stands as his highest-grossing movie ever made. Nolan found his stride with the massive success of 2008’s The Dark Knight ($1 billion), 2010’s Inception ($837 million), and 2014’s Interstellar ($716 million). 2017’s Dunkirk was one of his most critically respected movies but failed to scratch the surface of some of his most profitable movies with a total of $527 million worldwide. Tenet has a bit of an asterisk since it was one of the only movies available in theaters in 2020, but Oppenheimer swiftly eliminated any doubt of Nolan’s box office power.
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Disney Struggled A Lot In 2023
Outside of Nolan and Universal having landmark financial years, Disney had a historically underwhelming fiscal year due to a series of very expensive misfires. Most notably, the highly-anticipated Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny failed to make a strong impression on audiences, raking in only $383 million from a $300 million budget. Several other major Disney titles fell hard at the 2023 box office as well, including The Little Mermaid live-action remake and the MCU’s The Marvels. Despite the success of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, 2023 belongs to Universal thanks to Christopher Nolan’s exceptional Oppenheimer.
Oppenheimer
Oppenheimer is a film by Christopher Nolan, which follows the theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man behind the atomic bomb. Cillian Murphy will play the titular role, with the story based on the book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.
- Release Date
- July 21, 2023
- Director
- Christopher Nolan
- Cast
- Cillian Murphy , Emily Blunt , Matt Damon , Robert Downey Jr. , Rami Malek , Florence Pugh
- Rating
- R
- Runtime
- 150 Minutes
- Genres
- Drama , History , Biography
- Writers
- Christopher Nolan
- Budget
- $100 Million
- Studio(s)
- Syncopy Inc. , Atlas Entertainment
- Distributor(s)
- Universal Pictures
