Oppenheimer is now the highest grossing WWII film of all time

Oppenheimer has become the highest grossing WWII film of all time, having raked in the big bucks after premiering three weeks ago.

The film – directed by Christopher Nolan - is based on the 2005 novel American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.

It follows real-life physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy, who is working alongside a team of scientists to build the world's first atomic bomb during World War II.

The movie famously hit cinemas on the same day as Greta Gerwig’s brightly-coloured fantasy comedy flick Barbie, but while many assumed the two would become fierce rivals due to clashing release dates, they appear to have enjoyed a symbiotic relationship - and an incredibly successful one at that.

In fact, they both hit huge milestones over the weekend.

Universal Pictures

While Barbie passed the billion-dollar box office mark, official estimates from Universal Pictures showed Oppenheimer had made $552.9 million worldwide – in turn making it the highest grossing WWII film of all time.

Universal Pictures said it is now the highest grossing R-rated movie of this year and ‘marks the fastest a Universal R-rated film has hit the $200 million threshold domestically'.

Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, told CNN that Nolan’s hugely successful film had "an astounding theatrical run made all the more impressive by the R-rating, running time and subject matter which, in the hands of a lesser filmmaker and absent a spectacular marketing and release strategy, would have likely wound up as a mere footnote when referencing the performance of historical dramas at the box office."

Indeed, CNN reports the movie is one of only four biopics to earn more than half a billion dollars globally, alongside Bohemian Rhapsody, Passion of the Christ and American Sniper.

Universal Pictures

Dergarabedian added: “Oppenheimer… [has] become one of the most revered, talked about and successful summer movies ever to be released by a major studio,” Dergarabedian said, adding how the film ‘demonstrates the power of great filmmaking and of course a bit of unforeseeable “Barbenheimer” magic’.

Barbie, meanwhile, has been widely praised after becoming the only billion-dollar blockbuster to be solely directed by a woman.

It has also seen the biggest opening for a movie about a toy, the biggest opening ever for Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, and the biggest opening weekend for a film that isn't a sequel, remake, or superhero movie.

Watch Oppenheimer – and Barbie – in cinemas now.