Oppenheimer highest-grossing film in IFI history

Oppenheimer has become the highest-grossing film in the history of the Irish Film Institute.

The Cillian Murphy-starring drama, which sees the Corkman play the creator of the atomic bomb in World War 2, has overtaken An Cailín Ciúin and Nolan’s own film Dunkirk as the most successful films in the 31-year history of the IFI.

IFI Cinema Programmer Kevin Coyne said “the success of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer at the IFI is a tribute to the director’s ability to create mature, thought-provoking films that are best enjoyed and appreciated on the big screen, with an audience of fellow film fans.”

The IFI has the virtue of being the only cinema screen in the country that is able to project the film in the 70mm format, the favoured format of director Christopher Nolan.

“We are particularly pleased to be able to present the work of someone who is such an advocate for the cinema experience on this magnificent 70mm format, as he prefers,” said Coyne.

Both Oppenheimer and Barbie have generated tremendous revenue and fanfare for Dublin’s cinemas, with the release of Barbie resulting in the biggest weekend in the history of Smithfield cinema The Lighthouse.

The opening weekend for Oppenheimer and Barbie gave rise to the “Barbenheimer” double bill where people saw both films as part of a double bill, which led to both films enjoying stellar opening weekends.

Both films have held exceptionally well at the box office in proceeding weeks, with Barbie tipped to become the highest-grossing film of 2023 worldwide and Oppenheimer on track to secure the biggest box office haul for an R-rated film in recent history.

It was announced earlier this week that Barbie has become the most successful film in Irish cinematic history unadjusted for inflation, beating the record set by Avatar back in 2009.