Oppenheimer’s release marks the first time Christopher Nolan has released an R-rated film in over 20 years. That fact might surprise some considering the tone of many of his films, especially with 2008’s The Dark Knight in mind. While Nolan spoke to CinemaBlend’s ReelBlend podcast about settling on a rating for the 2023 new movie release, the filmmaker spoke to the changes he made to the iconic superhero film to make sure it didn’t have an R rating.
Now, we’ve certainly seen a few R-rated superhero movies in recent years that have made bank, including the Deadpool movies, Joker and Logan, but when Nolan’s Batman sequel came out at the time, those successes had yet to come out and Warner Bros. sought to reach a wide audiences with its PG-13 rating. While discussing ratings, Nolan told ReelBlend this about the process involved with the blockbuster. In his words:
