How ‘Oppenheimer’ Pulled Off an Atomic Bomb Explosion Without CGI: A Giant Aquarium, Balloons and More

Sophia Scorziello editor This season, television was pushed to its limits and into spaces that teetered genres and kept audiences guessing. From an improv show about a fake court trial to mockumentaries about public schools and vampires, a sci-fi drama about nuns, the 2023 Emmy nominations were a grab bag full of interesting television, and artisans helped take them even further.

Sophia Scorziello editor “A lot of what we do as directors is just putting out fires,” said “Ted Lasso” director Declan Lowney. Whether those are unavoidable or self-made fires, the directors at Variety’s Creative Collaborations: Directors on Directors panel all agreed that their shows and films faced serious challenges — but that didn’t stop their projects from earning Emmy nominations. Directors Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton of “Fleishman is in Trouble,” Peter Hoar of “The Last of Us,” Lowney of “Ted Lasso,” Glenn Weiss of “The Oscars” and Davis Guggenheim of “Still: A Michael J.

, which Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are adapting for Netflix.Fern's life was once full of potential, but now she's back home running her mom's lakeside resort, which she never wanted to do. Her life is turned upside down when a man from her past shows up offering to help.One of the biggest book-to-screen adaptations of 2023 is Christopher Nolan's the story of how the brilliant J. Robert Oppenheimer played a pivotal role in the creation of the nuclear bomb.

, which Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are adapting for Netflix.Fern's life was once full of potential, but now she's back home running her mom's lakeside resort, which she never wanted to do. Her life is turned upside down when a man from her past shows up offering to help.One of the biggest book-to-screen adaptations of 2023 is Christopher Nolan's the story of how the brilliant J. Robert Oppenheimer played a pivotal role in the creation of the nuclear bomb.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor SPOILER ALERT: This contains spoilers from “Shortcomings,” now in theaters. Sherry Cola calls working with Randall Park in his directorial debut, “Shortcomings,” a full circle moment. Not only has she been watching the actor-director’s work for years, encountering him at parties, and having mutual acquaintances, but she had always wanted to be on MTV’s “Wild ‘N Out,’ a show Park was a regular on. “I was so impressed seeing an Asian dude representing with the rhymes and comedy,” she says that she auditioned to be a cast member.

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer has reached the $500M global milestone, on its way to an estimated $551M through Sunday. This would make it the filmmaker’s fifth-highest-grossing film of all time, ahead of Dunkirk. The worldwide total through Friday is $499.3M, meaning that it has already topped the five-century mark today.

Naman Ramachandran The U.K. and Ireland box office soared to £160.7 million ($205.1 million) in July thanks to “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” according to numbers released by Comscore. The July box office was 78% higher than June and 27% higher than July 2022.

Christopher Nolan is one of the most accomplished directors of our time. Delivering hit after hit, Nolan's films are thought-provoking and powerful. His latest film,, based on the true story of J.

Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” and Universal’s “Oppenheimer” continued their domination of the U.K. and Ireland box office with a combined £21.4 million ($27.3 million) after their second weekend, per numbers from Comscore. Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” topped the charts for the second week in a row with £13.2 million, and now has a total of £47.9 million.

EXCLUSIVE: The UK box office is booming thanks to Barbenheimer.

Cillian Murphy’s Oppenheimer co-star Robert Downey Jr. is praising him for his performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer.

After a blowout debut weekend, Barbenheimer showed strong continued momentum at the international box office on Monday. Warner Bros’ Barbie for its part had the best Monday ever for the studio overseas at $32M from 69 markets (it also scored the studio’s best Monday domestically). The running offshore total through yesterday is $226.3M, bringing the global Kenergy to $414.4M.

Naman Ramachandran Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” were the dominant forces at the U.K. and Ireland box office this weekend, with a combined debut take of £29.4 million ($37.6 million), per numbers from Comscore. Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” led the way with a mighty £18.5 million, while Universal’s “Oppenheimer” collected £10.8 million.

Christopher Nolan caused a stir when he announced that he filmed his new movie Oppenheimer without relying on CGI for pivotal scenes, even ones that involved igniting an atomic bomb.

summer blockbuster “Oppenheimer” is surely not bombing at the box office, but there is one scene in the movie that isn’t hitting the right target.One moment in the three-hour film starring Cillian Murphy shows a historical error that viewers pointed out on Twitter.In the shot, the Irish actor, 47, stands in the middle of a crowd, who all clap and cheer for him while they wave American flags.The dramatic epic about the life of nuclear physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer takes place in the early 1940s, but the flags featured white stars that represent 50 states — despite the country only having 48 in 1945 when the scene took place.Hawaii and Alaska, the last two entities to be annexed to the United States, were not added until 1959.Eagle-eyed fan Andy Craig revealed the mistake on social media, sharing a snapshot of the scene, and his post quickly went viral.“It was good and all, but I’ll be that guy and complain they used 50-star flags in a scene set in 1945,” he tweeted.Other fans agreed with his discovery and even called out Nolan, 52, for the incorrect usage.“Totally ruined the film for me,” a person claimed.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Cillian Murphy is earning some of the best reviews of his career for leading Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer, but no praise might be higher than this rave from co-star Robert Downey Jr.: “I have never witnessed a greater sacrifice by a lead actor in my career,” the “Iron Man” star told People magazine about Murphy’s performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer. “He knew it was going to be a behemoth ask when Chris called him,” Downey Jr. added. “But I think he also had the humility that is required to survive playing a role like this. We’d be like, ‘Hey, we got a three-day weekend. Maybe we’ll go antiquing in Santa Fe. What are you going to do?’ ‘Oh, I have to learn 30,000 words of Dutch. Have a nice time.’ But that’s the nature of the ask.”

“Oppenheimer” isn’t the first time Cillian Murphy topped a movie that hit the cultural zeitgeist. And yet, stardom didn’t quite spark for the Irish actor after Danny Boyle‘s 2002 genre hit “28 Days Later.” There were daring performances (“Breakfast on Pluto”) and fun villainous paycheck plays (“Red Eye”), but Murphy has spent the past two decades mostly in ensemble and supporting roles (on the big screen of course, but in the U.K.

Naman Ramachandran Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” are attracting a record number of punters back to the cinemas in the U.K. and India. In the U.K. the Vue cinema chain said that it witnessed its biggest weekend in four years and second biggest weekend in history by admissions, with “Barbie” on track to become the biggest film of 2023, ahead of “Super Mario Bros.” Vue saw more than a fifth of its customers booking tickets to see both films. Over 2,000 sessions sold out for “Barbie,” delivering the largest ever opening weekend for an original, non-franchise film for the U.K. and Ireland market box office.

Cillian Murphy praised Oppenheimer costar Florence Pugh — and their graphic sex scenes.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor SPOILER ALERT: This contains spoilers from “Swagger” Season 2, now streaming on AppleTV+. As Reggie Rock Bythewood was gearing up for AppleTV+’s second season of “Swagger,” the filmmaker was thinking about how to elevate the series and take it to another level. One film that came to mind was Sam Mendes’ “1917” and how cinematographer Roger Deakins had shot the film and presented it as if it were one continuous long shot. The series follows a team of basketball players inspired by NBA star Kevin Durant and in the latest “maze,” as Bythewood calls it, the team down to six players, Jace (Isaiah R. Hill), Phil (Solomon Irama), Musa (Caleel Harris), Drew, Royale (Ozie Nzeribe), and Nick (Jason Rivera) head to Maryland’s Youth Facility, a detention center for young offenders for a game. “I thought about ‘1917’ and the entire film is shot as if it were one shot. So, Cliff Charles, the D.P., and I talked about doing one that way,” says Bythewood.