A blast from the past

Christopher Nolan's eagerly awaited historical blockbuster Oppenheimer blows the competition away, topping the national box office on its opening weekend, Xu Fan reports.

On the penultimate day of this year's bumper summer movie season, iconic director Christopher Nolan's highly anticipated movie Oppenheimer made its mainland debut, becoming the latest blockbuster to contribute to the recovery of the domestic film market.

Thanks to a string of critically acclaimed and commercially successful blockbusters like Interstellar and Inception, Nolan has accumulated a lot of fans in the country.

During his visit last month, marking a six-year hiatus since his 2017 tour to promote his war epic Dunkirk, eager Chinese fans flocked to the two preview screenings in Beijing and Shanghai, respectively. Despite the scorching noon heat during the Beijing event, which was partly held outside Universal CityWalk Cinema, a huge crowd greeted the director, with hundreds vying for his autograph.