Oppenheimer is History; Nuclear Weapons Are Not

As the 2024 Academy Awards approached, all eyes were on Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s critically acclaimed film that tells the origin story of nuclear weapons. Everyone was talking about the film’s 13 Oscar nominations. Nobody was talking about the world’s 13,000 nuclear weapons and J. Robert Oppenheimer’s warnings against an arms race and the development of even more powerful weapons.

NTI’s Critical Mass project set out to change the conversation.

In just six weeks, Critical Mass launched a bold campaign that blanketed Los Angeles on Oscar weekend. It included an open letter signed by Hollywood luminaries like Michael Douglas, Jane Fonda, Julianne Moore, Barbra Streisand, and Kristen Stewart, raising alarm about today’s nuclear threats. The letter was published in The Los Angeles Times, Variety, and The Hollywood Reporter.

NTI put up billboards along prominent routes to the Academy Awards ceremony and covered LA with wheatpasted posters, a mural, and other outdoor advertising. At the iconic Original Farmer’s Market at The Grove, crowds took in our Make Nukes History art installation and engaged with NTI representatives in hundreds of conversations about nuclear weapons.

Prominent influencers and TikTok creators brought the campaign’s message to more than 5 million people on social media, and the campaign was covered across U.S. and globally with nearly 300 broadcast hits.

NTI’s CEO and Co-Chair, Ernest Moniz, appeared on MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell Reports to talk about the campaign. Publications with global reach covered the campaign and integrated our message in stories about Oppenheimer’s Oscar run.

On Oscar night, best actor winner Cillian Murphy said, “For better or worse, we’re all living in Oppenheimer’s world. So, I’d really like to dedicate this to the peacemakers everywhere.”

The award-winning campaign broke through the media narrative and spread the message that Oppenheimer is history, but nuclear weapons are not.