Why Christopher Nolan doesn't think Oppenheimer will win the Best Picture Oscar

For many film fans, the standout movie of 2023 is Oppenheimer.

Christoper Nolan's epic, starring Cillian Murphy in the title role, was a huge critical and commercial success and earned an astonishing $950 million at the box office.

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Oppenheimer will undoubtedly be nominated for a flurry of Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

But, Nolan reckons that his film's early release date, in the summer, could scupper the chances of winning the main Oscar on the night.

‘We don’t really think about awards when we’re making the films," he told Metro.co.uk.

"I don’t think you can, particularly if you’re looking to reach a broad audience and put the film out at the best time of year for example, which is the summer. It's never a strategic thing to do if you’re interested in winning awards.

"It’d be marvellous to win Oscars for the film, it’d be a dream come true, it’d be thrilling.

"But it’s not something that’s ever on our mind while we’re actually making the film because it’s so tough to get a film done and to get it out there in the marketplace that can work for an audience – that requires all of your attention and all of your focus. You can’t take your eye off that ball at any point.’

Nolan looking to move on from 'dark' Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer was arguably Nolan's darkest movie as it focused on the birth of the atomic bomb as well as the aftermath of the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

After spending so long on that project, it seems we might see a lighter movie on the horizon next.

"There’s definitely part of me wants to leave the story behind," the iconic director admitted.

"It’s a great privilege to be able to talk about a film that you’ve made that's now going into the home on 4K and Blu-ray and all the rest. It’s great to be able to sit here and talk to you about the success of the movie. That’s a huge privilege.

"But the subject matter is very dark. It’s nihilistic and yeah, there's part of me that's quite keen to move on and maybe do something not quite as bleak.”