Oscars 2024: 'Oppenheimer' wins Best Film, Christopher Nolan bags Best Director

Christopher Nolan's ‘Oppenheimer’ won the Best Film award at the 96th edition of the Academy Awards held at Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles, United States. The epic biographical thriller beat competition from the likes of ‘Killers of The Flower Moon’, ‘The Holdovers’ and ‘Anatomy of a Fall’ to win the award.

Nolan secured his first Academy Award, triumphing as Best Director for his historical drama ‘Oppenheimer,’ which delves into the story of the man responsible for the atomic bomb's development during World War Two.

Nolan was widely expected to clinch the Oscar, having previously garnered Best Director accolades at the Golden Globes, BAFTA, Critics Choice, and the Directors Guild of America earlier this year.

In addition to directing, Christopher Nolan also penned the screenplay for ‘Oppenheimer’ and served as a producer alongside his wife, Emma Thomas. The film garnered a total of 13 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and a Best Actor nod for Cillian Murphy, who portrayed J. Robert Oppenheimer, famously dubbed ‘the father of the atomic bomb.’

Reflecting on the film's narrative, Nolan shared with Reuters before its premiere last summer, ‘Oppenheimer's story is one of the most dramatic that I know of, and there are many, many aspects to what makes it so compelling.’

Oppenheimer led the secret Los Alamos Laboratory, created under President Franklin D. Roosevelt as part of the Manhattan Project to construct the first atomic bomb. He supervised the inaugural detonation of the atomic bomb in the New Mexico desert, codenamed "Trinity," preceding the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.

Regarding its box office performance, the film has amassed over $957 million in global ticket sales.

Renowned for his thought-provoking films, Christopher Nolan earned his first Oscar nomination for screenwriting in 2002 for ‘Memento,’ a film he also directed. He received another nomination for Best Director in 2019 for the World War Two movie ‘Dunkirk.’

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