How Christopher Nolan bounced back from Tenet to make £750 million at the box office with Oppenheimer, writes ALISON BOSHOFF

The massive box office success of Oppenheimer has seen it take £750,000,000 ($957,000,000) globally... and counting.

Made on a relatively modest £78 million ($100 million) budget, the cerebral epic is the most successful biopic ever made — bigger than 2018's Bohemian Rhapsody, and people thought that was a phenomenon.

But as director Christopher Nolan prepares to take the Best Picture and Best Director statuettes for his movie, has it also been the most financially successful project of all? When he was shopping Oppenheimer around, numerous sources say Nolan asked for — and got — a deal (with Universal) to have 20 per cent of the 'first-dollar gross' (the box office takings from the first day of release onwards).

That would mean the director, born and raised in the UK, is now about $200 million richer, and suddenly one of the wealthiest men in Hollywood. Neither Universal nor Nolan's publicist will comment.

An insider says: 'Nolan is a canny operator who provides a near-guaranteed return for studios, so he is able to control the terms of his deals to a greater extent than almost any other filmmaker.'

The massive box office success of Oppenheimer has seen it take £750,000,000 ($957,000,000) globally... and counting (Christopher Nolan pictured with Cillian Murphy)

Cillian Murphy (pictured) starred in Nolan's Oppenheimer which is up for Best Picture and Best Director Oscar

Oppenheimer was far more successful than Nolan's Tenet - the $200 million film came out in September 2020, in the teeth of the pandemic to middling reviews

The sweet deal came about after Nolan's long-standing relationship with Warner Bros ran into trouble over the release of Tenet.

That $200 million film came out in September 2020, in the teeth of the pandemic and after friction over thrice-delayed release dates. The reviews were middling, and the box office also tepid.

The following year, with the idea for Oppenheimer formed and scripts written, executives from Universal, Sony, Paramount and Apple all visited Nolan at his Hollywood Hills home to hear what he wanted.

He demanded a production budget of about $100 million and an equal marketing spend; total creative control; 20 per cent of first-dollar gross; and a blackout period, meaning the company would not release another movie three weeks before or after his film. Plus a theatrical window of over 100 days.

Apple were not willing to commit to putting the film in cinemas for that long, and Paramount were out early. But Sony and Universal were apparently rivals to the end.

Lily channels the spirit of de Havilland 

Lily Gladstone — hoping for an Oscar for her portrayal of Mollie Burkhart in Killers Of The Flower Moon — put director Martin Scorsese in mind of golden age screen icon Olivia de Havilland.

'Lily Gladstone has the appearance of Olivia de Havilland. There's no doubt. She really looks that way,' Scorsese said.

The character of Mollie, who comes to realise that the man she loves has betrayed her, is based on a real-life historical figure. But Scorsese said that the dramatisation was also inspired by de Havilland in William Wyler's 1949 classic The Heiress.

He explained that film served as a 'touchstone' for his ensemble of Gladstone, Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert de Niro, in depicting the way the Osage people, and Mollie in particular, were preyed on. 'The thing about it is: does he really want her, or does he want her money? That's the key.'

Gladstone agreed. 'The performance very much came from who I understood Mollie to be, but also I was emulating de Havilland in a number of ways, restoring a Native woman to the kind of leading lady position we were excluded from in that era.'

Lily Gladstone is hoping for an Oscar for her portrayal of Mollie Burkhart in Killers Of The Flower Moon

Gladstone is neck and neck with Emma Stone for Poor Things in the race for Best Actress at the Oscars this year 

The character of Mollie, who comes to realise that the man she loves - played by Leonardo DiCaprio (pictured) has betrayed her, is based on a real-life historical figure 

Gladstone is neck and neck with Emma Stone for Poor Things in the race for Best Actress at the Oscars this year, but maybe the de Havilland connection will prove a lucky charm. The British-American legend won Best Actress for The Heiress in 1950.

Barbie designer who hated pink

Seven— yes seven! — times Oscar nominee for production design Sarah Greenwood is in the fray this year for Barbie, along with creative partner Katie Spencer.

Neither woman, it turns out, owned either a Barbie doll or a Barbie dreamhouse as a girl. So they had to do their research when they got the call from director Greta Gerwig.

Greenwood says: 'My generation was very scornful of Barbie. I think the thing that I never did, that this film might do, is maybe make it more acceptable to like Barbie — or to like pink — which we spent a lot of time not doing.'

Everything in Barbieland — built on the Warner Bros lot near Watford — was 23 per cent smaller than the human actors, as Barbie was always too big for her house. 'What looks simple was not simple,' Greenwood says.

Neither Sarah Greenwood or Katie Spencer, the designers for Barbie owned either a Barbie doll or a Barbie dreamhouse as a girl

Meanwhile Ryan Gosling's performance of I'm Just Ken from the film is bound to be the best moment of the night on Sunday. All five nominated original songs will be performed.

Research shows that the under-35 audience will just watch highlights like this on TikTok and YouTube, rather than bothering to sit down for the broadcast — 54 per cent of them plan to follow the Academy Awards on social media, which is one way of skipping the boring bits.

The research also shows that 44 per cent of Gen Z want Barbie to win best movie.

The 'Oscars bump', which sees nominees and winners increase their pay packets and visibility, is not just confined to the world of filmed entertainment. 

Paul Giamatti, nominated for The Holdovers, has found it has driven millions to his side gig, a podcast called Chinwag, which has seen listeners treble. It's a left-field offering in which he and philosophy professor Stephen Asma discuss UFOs, Bigfoot and the like.

Paul Giamatti, nominated for The Holdovers, has found that the 'Oscars bump' has driven millions to his side gig, a podcast called Chinwag

Annette raises a glass to her mum

Annette Bening 65, says she hopes, eventually, to emulate her widowed 94-year-old mother, who passes her days doing the crossword and enjoying a cocktail every evening.

Bening, who is campaigning (for a fifth time) to take home her first Oscar for her performance as famed swimmer Diana Nyad, said: 'My mom is 94 and she is an amazing person.

Annette Bening 65, says she hopes, eventually, to emulate her widowed 94-year-old mother, who passes her days doing the crossword and enjoying a cocktail every evening

Annette starred alongside Jodie Foster in Nyad, a sports film about swimmer Diana Nyad's attempts to swim the Straits of Florida in the 2010s

'She goes on her computer briefly in the morning. She does her crossword puzzles. She reads. She enjoys her bridge with her friends. She takes a rest in the afternoon. She has a cocktail in the evening. That, to me, is remarkable... what she has achieved. That she is able to just be — and to be, in serenity and gratitude.

'There's a lot of adjustments that have to be made, and acceptance. And she's done that in a way that's remarkable. So I aspire to that.'

Three accountants from PWC will aim to prevent a mix-up like the 2017 Oscars when Moonlight won. but La La Land was announced. One has memorised the names of all winners, and will spend the night in a control room ready to intervene. 

Oscars host Jimmy Kimmel, in the hot spot for the fourth time, compares the ceremony to a plane trip. 'We just want a flight that's on time, and cocktails are served, and nobody throws up.'