20 HUGE Hit Movies NOBODY Saw Coming

Though there's no denying that Christopher Nolan is one of the few filmmakers who can gets butts in seats on the basis of his name alone, many still expected his historical biopic Oppenheimer to end up on the more modest end of his successes to date.

If Nolan's $100 million drama could land $500-600 million globally, that would've been seen as a staggeringly impressive result in its own right.

But despite being a three-hour, R-rated historical drama about nuclear weapons with virtually no discernible "action," it ended up netting $975.8 million worldwide - just shy of a hot billion.

This spoke to not only the film's quality but also the organic success of the "Barbenheimer" movement - the film riskily releasing the very same day as Greta Gerwig's Barbie, and yet many were ultimately compelled to watch both rather than choose one.

And again, it provided yet further confirmation than Nolan is an absolutely bulletproof brand unto himself.