If you’ve seen Nope in theaters, you’ve already gotten a glimpse at Christopher Nolan’s next film, Oppenheimer. And if you’re like me, you probably thought it was a weird beginning to Nope and uttered a way-too-loud “Ohhhhh” after the title card finally dropped. Well, no need to see Nope now (but seriously, go see it)—the Oppenheimer trailer has finally been released for all to enjoy.
Frequent Nolan collaborator Cillian Murphy stars as theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the so-called “father of the atomic bomb.” We get to see Oppenheimer in his days at the Los Alamos Laboratory as he leads the Manhattan Project, which, as we all know, led to the creation of the massively destructive atomic bomb.
“The world is changing,” a voice narrates in the trailer. “Reforming. This is your moment.”
Along with an eerie sense of destruction in all of the intonations in the trailer—folks talk about humans destroying one another; Oppenheimer is named “the man who moved the earth”—the visuals will send a chill down your spine. We get a peek into the catastrophic energy of the sun, as well as some vibrating images of the smokey bomb itself. Just imagine getting a glimpse of that in the full IMAX experience.
The most enthralling part of the trailer, though, is certainly the ticking time bomb that lurks at the bottom of a series of shots in the trailer. “In 11 months, 17 days, 19 hours, and 44 minutes,” my screen reads as I watch the trailer (and write this post). But as per Universal’s Oppenheimer teaser announcement, the numbers keep changing. Yes, the Oppenheimer trailer is a real-life countdown. Now, are the trailers in theaters actually counting down? Get out your calculator and find out!
But in 11 months, 17 days, 19 hours, and now 43 minutes, some of us will actually be at another movie premiere. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie just so happens to be hitting theaters the same day as Oppenheimer, pitting two of the biggest star-studded casts against each other on opening weekend. Will Margot Robbie or Cillian Murphy end up on top?
Speaking of a star-studded cast, it seems like the entirety of Hollywood has landed a part in Oppenheimer. Starring alongside Murphy are Florence Pugh, Jack Quaid, Mathew Modine, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Josh Hartnett, Kenneth Branagh, Gary Oldman, and Rami Malek.
Oppenheimer will land in theaters on July 21, 2023.
