Oppenheimer's Cillian Murphy, Christopher Nolan on best ways to watch the blockbuster
Hint, a trip to the theater is in order.
The anticipation is high for Oppenheimer, the latest movie from Christopher Nolan and starring Cillain Murphy (Peaky Blinders). WTW ranked the movie as our second most-anticipated blockbuster movie of summer 2023, while our readers are also making their excitement known with in one of our polls, with the movie besting Barbie and Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning among July movie titles.
Safe to say, people are really looking forward to watching Oppenheimer. But when the time comes, Murphy and Nolan both have recommendations on how and where to watch the movie.
In what should comes as no real surprise, Murphy said in an interview with Empire that viewers must see Oppenheimer at a movie theater, but for emphasis he added "on the biggest f***ing screen possible." He says there the movie has moments that are going to "blow people's lids off."
In a separate interview with the Associated Press, Christopher Nolan provided some specific details on not only the format that he would recommend people see Oppenheimer in, but what seat in a movie theater that he thinks is the best place to enjoy a movie.
First on the format, he says the best possible viewing experience for Oppenheimer is going to be IMAX 70mm screenings. Unfortunately, there are only going to be about 30 theaters in the world showing that format (find out if you're among the lucky few with access to those types of screenings on the IMAX website). The non-IMAX 70mm format of the movie is going to be available in more theaters. Even more will show the movie in IMAX digital showings, which Nolan is confident will still make the movie look great.
As far as where to sit for the movie, for Nolan it all depends on the format he is watching. In a Cinemascope ratio, which is the standard, non-IMAX screen, he says that he actually likes to be closer to the front, "middle of the third row." When he does watch something on IMAX though, "I actually like to be behind the center line right up the middle. So, a little further back," the director said.
Oppenheimer tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer (Murphy), known as the father of the atomic bomb. The movie is going to detail the development of the weapon that would go on to change human history.
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In addition to Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey, Jr., Matt Damon, Rami Malek, Florence Pugh, Benny Safdie, Michael Angarano, Josh Hartnett, Kenneth Branagh and more.
Oppenheimer releases exclusively in movie theaters on July 21.
Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca, Moulin Rouge!, Silence of the Lambs, Children of Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars. On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd.