Oppenheimer’s historical Oscars win ignites Chinese social media

Promotional material for film Oppenheimer Photo:Courtesy of Douban

Chinese netizens sent their congratulations via social media to director Christopher Nolan for his film Oppenheimer, calling the film's win "well-deserved", after the IMAX-sized biopic received seven awards at the 96th Academy Awards on Monday.

At the Academy Awards ceremony, Oppenheimer was this year's most-nominated film, with 13 total nominations, and it finally won 7 awards at this year's Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, and Best Music (Original Score), making it the biggest winner.

The biopic was released in the Chinese mainland on August 30, 2023 and has earned 450 million yuan under a strong promotion of the director Nolan during his China tour in 2023, and it was re-screened in the mainland on March 1, grossing 1.62 million yuan, according to Chinese ticketing platform Maoyan.

At present, Oppenheimer has collected more than $957 million at the global box office, becoming the highest-grossing Best Picture in the last two decades.

The film boasts an 8.8/10 rating on Chinese media review site Douban based on more than 600,000 reviews.

Related hashtags on China's X-like Sina Weibo garnered millions of views by Monday afternoon.

The film does not avoid or glorify the devastating effects of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan and it has triggered wide discussions among Chinese netizens with the comment of "fostering a more open-minded and inclusive society."

Many netizens have praised this movie, with some netizens saying that Oppenheimer is running to win the best movie, while others said that despite being a biographical movie, Oppenheimer's presentation ignited as much excitement in the audience as Star Trek.

"Oppenheimer is undoubtedly a masterpiece. It transcends the depth and breadth of Nolan's previous masterworks, presenting a more skillful technique and a more subdued and cold style. It allows us to see how the battle of human nature, the game of science and politics still profoundly affects the times we live in today," another netizen wrote.