INSOMNIA

Insomnia is the odd film out in Nolan's catalog, twice over. Nolan's only film he did not write or co-write. Nolan's only linear remake — time pressure comes from the Alaskan midnight sun, not editing. Of the 13 films charted below, 10 are told out of order — and 3 are not.

Playing it straight cost Nolan nothing with critics. They gave it 92% approval across 203 reviews, with the consensus crediting the duel between Al Pacino and Robin Williams — a sleepless detective interrogated by his own witness. Audiences hold it at 7.2 from 345K votes.

Three films into his career, Nolan got his first full studio budget — a $46.0M Warner Bros. production, roughly 9× Memento's, with Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hilary Swank above the title. It proved the pattern held at studio scale, returning $114M worldwide — 2.5× its cost.