Christopher Nolan’s final payday for Oppenheimer is ‘just shy of $100 million’ as producer is set to bank more with return to select cinemas after Oscars triumph

Academy Award-winning director Christopher Nolan’s final payday for Oppenheimer is just shy of $100 million, according to sources.

The blockbuster film starring Cillian Murphy as atomic bomb creator J Robert Oppenheimer, raked in an eye-watering $958 million worldwide.

The movie, which walked away the biggest winner from the Oscars, has an R rating for under 17s and a three-hour running time – factors which usually deters audiences.

Sources told Variety, the films director didn’t just walk away with awards but a whopping pay cheque just under $100 million for his part in making the blockbuster hit.

This figure is supposedly an amalgamation of Nolan’s salary, box-office escalators, backend compensation and a bonus his Academy Award wins.

Nolan’s deal was bartered by attorney Michael Schenkman and his WME agent Dan Aloni, according to the publication.

Oppenheimer nabbed a whopping seven wins, including Best Picture, Best Director (Christopher Nolan), Original Score, Actor in a Leading Role (Cillian), Actor in a Supporting Role (Robert Downey Jr), Cinematography and Achievement in Film Editing.

Made with a $100million budget, Oppenheimer has taken the crown for highest-grossing Best Picture Winner since The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King, which was made in 2004.

Celebrating its new Best Picture Winner title, the Christopher Nolan film will be gracing screens across 1,000 theatres.

Variety predict this should push Oppenheimer across the $1 billion box office threshold, meaning another bonus for Nolan.

Following his incredible Oscar sweep, many are anticipating what will be the director’s next move.

Some believe he may do his own version of the 1960 mystery thriller series The Prisoners, others predict he will get to work on a new screenplay.

But Oppenheimer hasn’t only brought success for it’s director, some of its cast have managed to land their first ever Oscar after featuring in the hit film.

Robert Downey Jr managed to nab his first Academy Award for Actor in a Supporting Role for the first time during his five decade career.

Downey Jr. jokingly thanked his ‘terrible childhood’ as he finally won an Oscar for his portrayal of Lewis Strauss, was delighted as he took to the stage – after host Jimmy Kimmel made a very awkward quip about his drug use.

The veteran actor took home the Academy Award over stiff competition including Sterling K. Brown, American Fiction, Robert De Niro, Killers of the Flower Moon, Ryan Gosling, Barbie, and Mark Ruffalo, Poor Things.

The talented star took to the podium to showcase his signature wit and even joked about his ‘terrible childhood’ while accepting the honour.

He said: ‘Thank you, thank you. Ah — thanks, Sam, thanks, fellas. You only flubbed one line. I’d like to thank my terrible childhood and The Academy, in that order.

‘I’d like to thank my — veterinarian — I meant wife, Susan Downey over there. She found me a snarling rescue pet and you loved me back to life. That’s why I’m here. Thank you.’

The talented actor went on talk about how much he needed his role in Oppenheimer while thanking director Christopher Nolan and castmates Emily Blunt and Cillian.

He continued: ‘Here’s my little secret. I needed this job more than it needed me. Chris knew it, Emma made sure that she surrounded me with one of the great casts and crews of all time, Emily, Cillian, it was fantastic.

‘And I stand here before you a better man because of it. What we do is meaningful, and the stuff that we decide to make is important. So, back to my publicist — my agent, Phillip Raskin is here and Andrew Dunlap, my den mother joy Feeley, thank you.

‘I want to thank my stylist, in case no one else does. Thanks, Erika, thank you very much. And I’m just going to say this. My entertainment lawyer Tom Hanson, or 40 years, the half of which he spent trying to get me insured and bailing me out, thanks, bro. Avery in India, this one’s for you.’

In contrast to Oppenheimer, Barbie, who memorably won against Oppenheimer in the ‘Barbenheimer’ box office showdown over the summer, walked away with just one award for Best Original Song for What Was I Made For? by Billie Eilish and Finneas McConnell.