CELEBRITY
‘Oppenheimer’ To Be Released In Japan In 2024
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Oppenheimer will be released in Japan in 2024, following backlash against the film’s depiction of the U.S. development of nuclear weapons that ultimately killed hundreds of thousands of Japanese people in World War II.
The film’s Japanese distributor, Bitters End, said Thursday the film would be released in theaters next year, but did not specify a date.
“Because the subject matter of this film is of great importance and has special significance to us Japanese, we decided to release the film in Japan after much discussion and consideration,” the company said in a statement. “After viewing the film, we believe that the one-of-a-kind cinematic experience by director Christopher Nolan, which transcends traditional theatrical techniques, deserves to be seen on the big screen.”
The film follows physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, who led the Manhattan Project to develop the first atomic bombs. Much of the film involves governmental inquiries into Oppenheimer and the project in the years after the war.
According to Box Office Mojo, Oppenheimer has earned more than $950 million at the global box office since its release in July.
Some critics questioned why the film did not depict the bombs’ effects in Japan, or the perspective of Japanese victims of the bombs. Japanese social media users were also incensed by Barbenheimer memes, which played on the fact that Barbie and Oppenheimer shared a release date in the U.S., arguing the association made light of a serious subject. Barbie suffered at the Japanese box office as a result.
Hiroshima was bombed on Aug. 6, 1945, and Nagasaki was bombed on Aug. 9. The true death toll remains unclear, with an estimated 200,000 killed as a result of the bombs through December 1945, though most of those died in the initial blast. More died as a result of cancer or other factors related to the fallout in the years that followed.
Both cities commemorate the anniversaries of the atomic bombings, and call for a ban on nuclear weapons.
TMX contributed to this article.
