The fourth weekend in July, deemed “Barbenheimer,” offered quite a unique box office experience. Moviegoers had their pick of the litter between Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, two original feature films representing opposite sides of the storytelling spectrum.
Barbie’s No. 1 At Box Office
Barbie left its pink print at the box office with a $70.5M opening on Friday (July 21) from 4,243 theaters this side of the pond. The Warner Bros. and Mattel IP-backed film went on to earn a total of $162M at the domestic box office over the weekend. Internationally, the film earned $194.3M for a worldwide cume of $356.3M.
Word of mouth and teasers several months in advance assisted the Margot Robbie led pic, also starring Ryan Gosling, Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Alexandra Shipp, Dua Lipa, and John Cena, along with rave reviews from critics. Post-release, Barbie is rated at 90% by critics and 88% by audiences on Rotten Tomatoes.
Barbie Breaks Records
When it comes to breaking records, Barbie ranks third in top opening weekends in July, following Disney’s The Lion King ($191.8M) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 ($169.2M), another Warner Bros. production.
Watch Official Trailer For Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’
The film barely beats The Dark Knight Rises by $2M in cracking the top 10 films with highest opening weekends in the summer. Barbie keeps company with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 ($168.2M), Iron Man 3 ($174.1M), Captain America: Civil War ($179.1M), Incredibles 2 ($182.7M), Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($187.4M), Avengers: Age of Ultron ($191.3M), The Lion King ($191.8M), The Avengers ($207.4M), and Jurassic World ($208.8M).
Seventy percent of the top 10 summer films are properties of juggernaut Walt Disney Studios, while Warner Bros. reserves 20% and Universal Pictures snags No. 1 top 10 film of all summers. Still, Barbie is the only film besides the 2022 release of Doctor Strange to nab these bragging rights after the pandemic. Not bad for a film relying on childhood nostalgia to draw audiences.
It’s the same tactic used by Universal’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which catered to an obviously eager demographic of gamers, along with millennials and their offspring. The resulting opening weekend box office came to $146.4M during its April 2023 release.
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Oppenheimer Comes In At No. 2
In Christopher Nolan fashion, the carefully curated Oppenheimer exploded with a domestic weekend gross of $82.5M accumulated from 3,610 theaters across North America. To date, the worldwide cume is $180.4M, a number aided by a spectacular performance in India at $7M, Saudi Arabia at $3.9M, and the United Arab Emirates at $2.4M.
Although the film lagged behind Barbie to take the No. 2 spot for the weekend, the fact that Oppenheimer is an original dramatic biopic with no franchise to stand on and heavily focused on science and dialogue speaks volumes to the changing tastes of viewers fatigued by the sequel, reboot, and reimagining renaissance taking over Hollywood in the few years. Across ranking reviews, Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., and Tony Goldwyn, earns an A from both moviegoers and film critics.
Watch Official Trailer For Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’
From epic play dolls to ballsy scientists, the success of these two, high-quality films in the era of streaming wars is evidence that betting on originality can pay off big time. But, the major studios have to role the dice.
