2023's film 'Oppenheimer' made history at the 96th Academy Awards held on March 10, 2024. Out of the thirteen categories it was nominated for, Oppenheimer won eight of them, including top categories like best director, best actor, and best picture.

The Academy Award-winning director, Christopher Nolan, reportedly earned more from Oppenheimer than the combined budgets of Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr.

This was because of a strategic move played by Nolan specifically to cut down on the film's budget to under $100 million.

Christopher Nolan signs a unique deal with Universal Studios

Under this agreement, Nolan gets '15 percent of first-dollar gross,' which means he got a share of every penny that the film made, even before Universal Studios could recover the expenditure. Oppenheimer's global box office collection crossed the $960 million mark, which is nearly 8,000 crore rupees. Out of this, Christopher Nolan received a gross total of $85 million.

Also Read: Golden Globe Awards 2024 - Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer Rules The Ceremony

After deducting the tax and agent fees, this value comes down to about $72 million, which is almost 595 crore rupees! And that's not all these earnings will only keep growing once the studio earns more from initial streaming rights and home video sales.

This strategy was chosen by Christopher Nolan to keep the production budget of the film below $100 million. To maximise the funds that went into the making of the movie, the filmmaker charged minimal writing, directing, and producing fees.

Oppenheimer hit theatres along with another highly anticipated film, 'Barbie,' and the tussle between the two for box-office dominance was termed 'Barbenheimer' by the netizens. Despite that, Oppenheimer saw more box-office collections than its competitor worldwide.

Nolan's stand against Warner Bros. and entry into Universal Studios

Oppenheimer marks Nolan's first film with Universal Studios after his exit from his long-time partners, Warner Bros. This happened after Nolan ardently stood against his former company's decision to release all of its films simultaneously on its streaming platforms.

Criticising the production house's decision, the filmmaker commented, 'Some of our industry's biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service. They don't even understand what they're losing. Their decision makes no economic sense, and even the most casual Wall Street investor can see the difference between disruption and dysfunction.'

Soon after he left Warner Bros., a bidding war between multiple studios ensued to sign Nolan on, with Universal Studios winning in the end.