“So no evil streaming service can steal it from you”: Christopher Nolan put a lot of work into the home theater version of “Oppenheimer.”

At the Linwood Dunn Theater, the home cinema of the Academy responsible for the Oscars, Christopher Nolan presented a screening of the documentary “The Story Of Our Time: The Making Of Oppenheimer” (German title: “The Story of Our Time: The making Oppenheimer”). The impressive, lengthy and surprisingly entertaining extra from the home theater version was pre-screened to show the many Oscar voters at the event what the many individual contributors to “Oppenheimer” had accomplished.

The evening was mainly reserved for people like editor Jennifer Lame, composer Ludwig Göransson, production designer Ruth De Jong, costume designer Ellen Mirojnick, supervising sound editor Richard King, visual effects supervisor Andrew Jackson and special effects supervisor Scott Fisher, who all have a chance to win an Oscar . nominations and probably even one or two golden boys.

I also got to sit with all the Academy people in the theater because Christopher Nolan took the opportunity to not only make Oscar commercials for his team, but also also to present the Blu-ray, which will of course be available in stores from November 22, 2023 and can of course be pre-ordered.

Christopher Nolan is known for being a huge supporter of cinema and one could easily assume that he would only want to show his films exclusively on the big screen. But he also spends a lot of time on home cinema releases and with ‘The Dark Knight’ he personally helped to ensure that the film on Blu-ray was presented as well as possible. This is how it is now at “Oppenheimer”:

“I am known for my love for cinema and I have put my whole life into it, but The truth is that if the film is shown at home, that is just as important.” Ultimately, the home theater version will be the one that people watch and binge watch again and again.

Wait longer for the Blu-ray for better results

Nolan also believes that the now unusually long four-month wait between the theatrical release in July and the home theater release in late November that he and his team wanted to guarantee the best possible quality for the regular Blu-ray and the 4K Blu-ray.

The picture and sound have been reworked to work best in a home theater. In a direct interview, sound veteran Richard King, who has been in the industry for more than 40 years, talked about how much extra work he has put in to ensure that “Oppenheimer” also sounds impressive at home – both with a beautiful Dolby Surround system but also – of course with some compromises – in stereo.

Nolan also made it clear why ‘Oppenheimer’ won’t be released in advance as a stream, as is often the case these days. He sees the 4K Blu-ray as the best possible version to enjoy his film. So of course he doesn’t want to keep anyone who wants the best version waiting any longer. The “Inception” director also took a small swipe at streaming services, which was met with much laughter from the audience:

Ultimately, give all the work a “version that you can buy and put on your shelf so that no evil streaming service can come and steal it from you.” Nolan is referring to the fact that several streaming services have recently removed titles from their platforms – in some cases even films and series that were released exclusively for streaming and are therefore no longer available at all.

The Blu-ray of “Oppenheimer” with many extras

The 4K Blu-ray, like the regular Blu-ray, also offers plenty of extras for “Oppenheimer,” Nolan continued. After all, he always enjoyed gaining insight into the work of filmmakers. And even though he doesn’t want to reveal his personal secrets, ‘Oppenheimer’ should also offer sufficient insight. The bonus material lasts a total of three hours.

I have already seen the powerful documentary “The History of Our Time: The Making of Oppenheimer”. In different chapters she discusses different aspects of the making of the film. What particularly excited me was that I got a very comprehensive insight into the different handmade, practical effects. The fact that the Trinity explosion was not computer generated has been widely reported. But how all the (nightmare) visions of Cillian Murphy’s J. Robert Oppenheimer were realized – sometimes with the simplest ideas and a Christopher Nolan personally spinning a thread for his actor – is incredibly exciting.

Other extras include how new technology was developed for ‘Oppenheimer’ to shoot the black-and-white scenes with IMAX cameras, as well as the historical background of the film, its main character and the atomic bomb. .

We follow detailed interviews surrounding the home theater release Christopher Nolan and some other participants in “Oppenheimer“.