One director has cracked the formula for creating commercially successful World War II movies, and he’s managed to scoop countless awards in the process. For decades, Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan was the highest-grossing World War II movie, but this changed when Christopher Nolan made his first foray into the genre.
Dunkirk grossed $533.7 million in 2017, but this record was eclipsed by Oppenheimer in 2023, with a staggering $975.8 million return. This means that two of Christopher Nolan’s movies stand head and shoulders above the compeтιтion, and there are four actors who appear in both of them.
Cillian Murphy won an Oscar for his lead role in Oppenheimer, but he also plays a shivering soldier in Dunkirk. Kenneth Branagh is another big-name actor who appears in both movies, playing a British naval commander in Dunkirk and Danish physicist Niels Bohr in Oppenheimer. James D’Arcy and Jack Cutmore-Scott also have supporting roles in both movies.
How Oppenheimer & Dunkirk Became The Two Highest-Grossing WW2 Movies
Nolan Has Succeeded In Many Different Genres
To understand how Dunkirk and Oppenheimer both shattered the record for the highest-grossing World War II movie ever made, it’s best to look back at Nolan’s career. Starting with his Dark Knight trilogy, Nolan established himself as a huge box-office draw. Even without the behemoth IP of Batman, audiences still flocked to see the likes of Inception and Interstellar.
Nolan is the rare example of a director who will attract a huge audience to whatever project he decides to tackle.
Christopher Nolan has now established himself as one of the biggest directors in Hollywood, and he’s the rare example of a director who will attract a huge audience to whatever project he decides to tackle. People who wouldn’t ordinarily be interested in World War II movies still wanted to see what Nolan was going to do with the genre.
By maintaining such a high level, Nolan has built up a lot of good will with his audience. This explains why millions of people paid to see a three-hour biopic about nuclear physics, which doesn’t sound like the kind of film that would ordinarily be a summer blockbuster. Nolan’s The Odyssey is already one of 2026’s most exciting movies.
Oppenheimer’s Record Is Unlikely To Be Broken Anytime Soon
Oppenheimer More Than Doubled The Previous Record Holder’s Total
Oppenheimer‘s box-office record is such an incredible outlier that it seems as though no other World War II movie will come close to beating it within the next few years. For context, the third highest-grossing World War II movie after Dunkirk and Oppenheimer is still Saving Private Ryan. No one besides Nolan has generated huge interest in the genre since 1998.
The biggest box office successes are almost all franchise hits, but war movies generally have to stand on their own two feet. The only conceivable way that a new movie could topple Oppenheimer would be if it found the perfect combination of big stars, great reviews and a popular director. The best chance of this happening would be Nolan returning to the genre.
