Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer' beats 'Batman Begins' at the box-office, 'Dunkirk' collections next

Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ has beaten ‘Batman Begins’ at the box-office, is now eyeing ‘Dunkirk’ collections next. Oppenheimer has earned $412.44 million at the worldwide box office, and Batman Begins’ collections were $373.67 million. It is too early to say if the domestic market in India will ultimately follow international trends for these two films, but right now winds of the ‘desi’ box office seem to be blowing in the direction of  _Oppenheimer_. Estimated figures at the time of publishing on the trade website koimoi.com pin the domestic collection of Oppenheimer at Rs 49.50 crore till Monday while the box office intake for  _Barbie_ stands at Rs 18.50 over the same period. Following its year-best $162 million opening, the pink-infused pop sensation of “ _Barbie_” saw remarkably sustained business through the week and into the weekend. The film outpaced Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” to have the best first 11 days in theaters of any Warner Bros. release ever. Oppenheimer enjoyed a headstart in India because the film was smartly marketed around the one thing that mattered most when it came to creating brand awareness — it is the new film of director Christopher Nolan. While many Hollywood lovers in India may or may not be familiar with Nolan’s experimental early thrillers Following and Memento, the filmmaker sure has created a loyal fan base since the time he entered a more mainstream zone in 2002 with the Al Pacino-Robin Williams psychological thriller Insomnia. Over the decades, the filmmaker’s unconventional storytelling approach, balanced by an ability to infuse the quirk factor to the most done-to-death of genres, has extended from the superhero movie (The Dark Knight trilogy) and the sci-fi thriller (Inception, Interstellar and Tenet) to the war drama (Dunkirk) and the suspense drama (The Prestige).