Openheimer: The Movie. One person's observation.

[y_p_w]

Going to see it on Tuesday.... Senior day only 6 bucks....and another 15 bucks for popcorn and a soda...

I saw it opening night ($7.25 for matinees - I saw a 5 PM Friday matinee) at a local Cinemark theater. They also have $6.25 all-day tickets on Tuesdays and with their (free) rewards program it's $5.75. None of those were youth or senior prices. I think AMC still has a similar Tuesday special.

 

[y_p_w]

Anyone do the double feature? Made for one heck of an overall weekend box office. Also - Oppenheimer apparently monopolized all the "premium large format" screens that Barbie might have taken.

https://variety.com/2023/film/news/...rbie-oppenheimer-historic-weekend-1235678323/​

“Oppenheimer,” too, beat expectations with $82.4 million, slightly higher than Sunday’s huge $80.5 million projection. At the international box office, the biopic about the “father of the atomic bomb” added $98 million for a global tally of $180 million. Even with a box office draw like Nolan at the helm, it’s a remarkable start for a three-hour-long period piece with little action and lots of talking. It’s one of the best starts ever for an R-rated film, as well as a biographical drama.​

​

The cultural craze of “Barbenheimer,” complete with double features of the seemingly different blockbusters with matching release dates, helped to fuel the biggest collective weekend at the box office since the pandemic. More impressively, the box office powered to its fourth-biggest weekend in history with over $300 million industrywide. The top three weekends of all time were led by the debuts of sequels in massive franchises — 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame” ($402 million collectively), 2018’s “Avengers: Infinity War” ($314 million collectively) and 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($313 million collectively).​

​

Both of the rapturously reviewed, big-budget films managed to crush stratospheric prerelease expectations. Heading into the weekend, analysts were anticipating a $100 million to $110 million start for “Barbie” and a $50 million debut for “Oppenheimer.” For the record, either of those results would have been notable for non-franchise films in the heat of summer.​

********​

“Barbie” also exceeded expectations at the international box office with $194.3 million (above Sunday’s estimate of $182 million), bringing its global tally to a stunning $356.3 million. Those ticket sales are especially notable because “Barbie” didn’t have much of a footprint on Imax or premium large format screens, which are more expensive than the average 2D movie ticket.​

​

The reason that “Barbie” was only available on standard screens is because “Oppenheimer,” which was filmed with Imax cameras, all but monopolized the industry’s footprint for premium large formats. PLFs, where Nolan prefers his movies to be seen, contributed a massive 47% of “Oppenheimer’s” domestic tally. Imax alone accounted for $35 million of global ticket sales.​

 

[HyundaiAbuser]

Anyone do the double feature? Made for one heck of an overall weekend box office. Also - Oppenheimer apparently monopolized all the "premium large format" screens that Barbie might have taken

Spent 7 hours at the theatre Saturday for this. The premier room at our cinema has “Barbie and Oppenheimer” advertised outside it. The Trend has definitely added some revenue to Oppenheimer from my generation that otherwise would not have been there.

 

[MolaKule]

Based on your review, I would rather watch Barbie.

You could always go see this one.

 

[Kira]

If this subject interests you I suggest reading 109 East Palace and Tuxedo Park by Jennet Conant.
Her grandfather was a key player and shares "in-house" perspectives.
If you want to read chronologically, read T.P. first. It essays the development of radar, one of the huge 3 secrets of WWII
The nuts and bolts of it....where it was made....how it was financed and tested....all very interesting.

NOTE: If anyone has a copy of, "Brainwaves of Death", hang onto it and PM me.

109 E.P. gives unbelievable detail of the scientists and family members at a vacant boys school outside Los Alamos, NM Oppie learned of during his time West. They came from a score of lands and there was pressure to run the place like an enemy prison camp. What was described leaves quibbling over the wearing of uniforms trivia.
Lotsa booze and lotsa babies because they got medical services. It was described as a huge score for many of these guys as they were hard working scientists who were often underpaid.

Actually, their vulnerable position in society (poor and often beholden to schools) was cited as a reason to isolate them; shield them from industrial prying and enemy corruption (bribery).

Young, civilian men with families, in desperate need of work arrived at 109 East Palace. They had followed leads stemming from the flow of building material orders and financial paperwork at a California University which fronted the operation. and were turned away.
The author interviewed the "lady at the desk" for the book. Absolutely a top flight read.

It's got me thinking the movie has to suck. But I still want to see it. And Barbie, though Ken appears to be a dufus.

FYI: Jennet Conant was a guest answerer on Jeopardy last week.

 

[cptbarkey]

I'm an amateur fan of nuclear history and very much enjoyed the movie. The set locations were spot on from the rolling green hills of New Mexico and I felt very immersed. A long time friend of mine from High school and myself went on a "nuclear" tour of New Mexico back in 2009, visited the Tinity site (its only open on certain days), the Los Alamos museum and a few other locations. We saw the movie together and came away feeling that the movie could have had a few more interesting bits thrown, such as the criticality accident and maybe focus on a few of the other characters vs always on Oppenheimer.

A few years ago I visited the Alberquerque rocket museum and there is lots to see there too. My cousin works in IT for the folks who transport nuclear material and there was an entire section at the museum that talks about the logistics and history. Amarillo has one of the trains on display that was used, but later they stopped due to protests and now use (redacted redacted). Go to the museum and find out

 

[DirectRejection]

Up above Edwards Stadium, high on the hill, sits Lawrence National Laboratory. One Cyclotron Road is where Oppie and gang started the atomic bomb journey. It got big and moved to NM.

 

[y_p_w]

Up above Edwards Stadium, high on the hill, sits Lawrence National Laboratory. One Cyclotron Road is where Oppie and gang started the atomic bomb journey. It got big and moved to NM.

Edwards Stadium is at the SW corner of the campus proper at the corner of Oxford and Bancroft. The road to Lawrence Berkeley Lab is Centennial Drive, which leads to the Lawrence Hall of Science. LBL is more or less above Memorial Stadium. A 37 inch cyclotron built by Lawrence was outside the Lawrence Hall when I was a kid and I believe is still there. It’s outside in a traffic circle at the entrance.

Now a lot of that stuff is spread out. There’s no atomic weapons research at LBL, but there is at Lawrence Livermore Lab. I remember accidentally driving by there and seeing the high security entrance. I haven’t applie for a job there, but once I applied for a job at Sandia National Lab in Livermore. It was rather odd since they have a small footprint next to LLL.

 

[PWMDMD]

It was fine. I’ve read the story from Richard Feynman’s POV and I read book Robert Oppenheimer by Ray Monk and so nothing new to the story. Perhaps tried to cover too much and so everything was rather superficial with not enough science for my liking. Not sorry I watched it but not a great movie - a very good movie.

 

[y_p_w]

I’m looking forward to seeing it someday.
One early noticed historical mistake in the movie was they have too many stars on the American flags the people were waving for that time period
There were 50 stars on the flags, for the time period it should only have been 48.

The one thing I don’t understand is why a lot of the building portrayed looked so old and weathered. The buildings at Los Alamos were pretty new and should look like it. I remember Back to Future III got it right when a boomtown looked shiny and new, even if built with cheap materials.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Thanks @MolaKule especially for the science background. I have been waiting for this movie since I first heard it was being made a couple of years back. Loved tour review and appreciate your thoughts.

I am looking forward to this Friday's panel discussion at Cal.

 

[Cujet]

It was fine. I’ve read the story from Richard Feynman’s POV and I read book Robert Oppenheimer by Ray Monk and so nothing new to the story. Perhaps tried to cover too much and so everything was rather superficial with not enough science for my liking. Not sorry I watched it but not a great movie - a very good movie.

I listened to the Ray Monk book Robert Oppenheimer on Audible. I found it fascinating. Then went to the national museum of nuclear science and history.

 

[MolaKule]

As I mentioned in the "Dark Matter" thread there are some additional, factual information sources that deal with both the science and the personalities of the MP:

"And even more interesting set of books with better accuracy and more detail (written by a physicist) is by

Bruce Cameron Reed,
The History and Science of the Manhattan Project,
published by Springer.

The History and Science of the Manhattan Project​

link.springer.com
Chapters 7 and 8 are stunning.

and

Bruce Cameron Reed,
The Physics of the Manhattan Project,
published by Springer.

The Physics of the Manhattan Project​

link.springer.com
also there is:

Manhattan Project: Science
published by the US DOE."

 

[Al]

Being a Hollywood production, we know it’s 100% factual.

I have read the book. Mola's review indicates the movie is true to the facts.
Thanks for the review Mola!!!

 

[y_p_w]

Spent 7 hours at the theatre Saturday for this. The premier room at our cinema has “Barbie and Oppenheimer” advertised outside it. The Trend has definitely added some revenue to Oppenheimer from my generation that otherwise would not have been there.

Might have been mutually beneficial.

 

[PimTac]

It’s been done before.

 

[y_p_w]

It’s been done before.

Wasn’t quite the same. Fat Man and Little Boy was more about the Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer was about the man, including his early days and then being blacklisted. I’ve seen both. Oppenheimer was a much better movie.

 

[MolaKule]

The one thing I don’t understand is why a lot of the building portrayed looked so old and weathered. The buildings at Los Alamos were pretty new and should look like it. I remember Back to Future III got it right when a boomtown looked shiny and new, even if built with cheap materials.

Many times lens filters are used to reflect the landscape, sometimes to reflect the general mood of the inhabitants of a town, or to frame the mood of a country.

There was one interior scene of Opie's new house that was very bright and new.

 

[Elkins45]

A few things. I remember looking at an encyclopedia entry on Little Boy and it claimed that the construction was of a small uranium projectile hitting a larger uranium target through a tube. Of course that was mostly speculation as the design hadn't been actually disclosed publicly until maybe the 1990s. The real design was of a large, hollowed projectile that slammed into a smaller target.

A former coworker previously worked at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, including at the end of Frank Oppenheimer's tenure as director, which ended when Frank died of lung cancer. My coworker said that he was the only person allowed to smoke there, and also the only one allowed to bring his dog to work.

One of the more interesting details of the Little Boy design is how they kept fighting the problem of the bomb being too heavy given the artillery barrel they were using. They were stymied until someone very practically realized that their gun barrel didn't need to be strong enough to endure thousands of firings: it just had to withstand one. This allowed them to significantly lighten the tube yet still make it strong enough to work.

Another very practical detail was one of the methods they used to ensure the two halves of the fissile material stayed together long enough to get a decent yield. One of the problems of the gun design was that once the chain reaction started the forces would immediately start to tear the critical mass apart and reduce the neuron density, causing the chain reaction to be become increasingly less efficient. They (at least partially) solved that problem by making the diameter of the target uranium mass just a few thousandths of an inch larger than the corresponding hole in the projectile. This provided enough of a frictional fit that they were literally "stuck" together long enough to get a sustained chain reaction.

 

[Elkins45]

Many times lens filters are used to reflect the landscape, sometimes to reflect the general mood of the inhabitants of a town, or to frame the mood of a country.

There was one interior scene of Opie's new house that was very bright and new.

Ir you've never seen it I highly recommend The Day After Trinity, a documentary produced for PBS by Annenberg/CPB. It was at one time available in my little small-town public library on VHS with a number of other really good ones like Atomic Cafe and Threads. I used to show parts of it to my physics students.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After_Trinity