Oppenheimer is yet to receive an official release date in Japan, which has led some film fans on social media to speculate that Christopher Nolan’s latest offering has been banned in the country.
The epic historical biopic tells the life story of J. Robert Oppenheimer, who has often been referred to as the “father of the atomic bomb”.
Because of the film’s sensitive subject matter, news that a release date for Japan has not been announced has sparked rumours that it may have been banned in this particular territory.
As it turns out, there’s more to it than that.
Towards the end of June, a spokesperson for production company Universal insisted to Variety that “plans have not been finalised in all markets”.
In fact, Japan is often a bit choosier when it comes to which Western films will make it into cinemas (per The Conversation).
Recent history has seen Japan opting to see how certain movies perform at the box office in other territories before deciding on a roll-out plan, which is presumably the plan for Oppenheimer.
HuffPost UK has contacted Universal for additional comment.
Much has been made of the fact that Oppenheimer is being released on the same day as Greta Gerwig’s new Barbie movie, with the two films being pitted against one another in the media in what has been dubbed the “Barbenheimer” effect.
While both projects have received rave reviews, Oppenheimer has fared slightly better with critics, although Barbie is predicted to be the top earner when it comes to the box office.
Oppenheimer and Barbie will both hit UK cinemas on Friday 21 July.