‘Barbenheimer’ Was an Even Bigger Box Office Success Than We Thought

Both films in last weekend’s so-called “Barbenheimer” event opened even bigger than initially estimated. With the final Sunday grosses accounted for, this “Barbie” just opened with $162 million, while that “Oppenheimer” nabbed an $82.4 million domestic debut. The box office battle between the Greta Gerwig commentary and Christopher Nolan’s atom bomb drama ended with both sides, as well as movie theaters, toasted to well, what’s the opposite of mutually assured destruction?

This “Barbie” shattered box office records

Gerwig’s “Barbie” nabbed the biggest Fri-Sun opening since “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” ($181 million) last November, and the biggest launch for any film with a female director. It bested both the $103.5 million launch of Patty Jenkins’ “Wonder Woman” and the $155 million debut of “Captain Marvel” which was helmed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.

The Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling-starring fantasy notched the 21st biggest opening weekend of all time, right between WB’s “The Dark Knight Rises” ($160 million) and “Batman v Superman” ($166 million). It is WB’s third biggest debut behind the Batman/Superman flick and “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II ($169 million). Among all female-led pictures, its debut trails only “Beauty and the Beast” ($174 million) and the last three “Star Wars” sequels.

“Barbie” did all this with “Oppenheimer” taking up all the Imax screens and most of the premium-large-format real estate. With an A from Cinemascore, a 90% and 8.1/10 on Rotten Tomatoes, and nothing else aimed at women or girls on this scale arriving anytime soon, “Barbie” has a near-empty runway through the rest of the summer.

“Oppenheimer” nabbed the biggest COVID-era R-rated opening

Meanwhile, Christopher Nolan may have to thank Warner Bros. Discovery for planting “Barbie” on the same day as “Oppenheimer.” The move may have been seen as spite. Everyone knows Nolan prefers the mid-July slot where he pushed “The Dark Knight,” “Inception,” “The Dark Knight Rises” and “Dunkirk” to fortune and glory, and everyone knows that Nolan ditched WB for Universal after public disagreements related to Jason Kilar’s Project Popcorn. However, the organically viral online “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, which bled into the real world, benefited both films.

Simply put, for a three-hour, R-rated, action-free drama mostly filled with white dudes in suits having grim conversations about warfare, politics and science to open with $82.4 million, noticeably bigger than any non-Batman Nolan picture (inflation notwithstanding) is simply remarkable. “Oppenheimer” opened well above “Interstellar” ($49 million), “Dunkirk” ($50 million) and “Inception” ($62 million). Nolan is absolutely a marquee director, and this debut also solidifies Universal as a safe place for prestige filmmakers to make non-franchise fare.

“Oppenheimer” nabbed the biggest R-rated launch since “Joker” in late 2019, and nabbed the third-biggest launch for a biopic behind “The Passion of the Christ” ($83 million Fri-Sun/$125 million Wed-Sun) and “American Sniper” ($89 million Fri-Sun/$109 million Fri-Mon). Like “Barbie,” “Oppenheimer” finds itself unique within the summer movie marketplace and thus, powered by strong buzz, an A from CinemaScore and a 94% and 8.7/10 on Rotten Tomatoes, should leg out well into August.

Whoever wins, we win

Time will tell as to whether Hollywood takes the wrong lessons (more grim biopics and toy movies) from this massive double-whammy, but for now, audiences showed up in spades for something just a little different from conventional franchise fare. The conventional wisdom debunked this weekend, about what constitutes a blockbuster, about whether (15 years after “Mamma Mia!” and “Twilight”) girls and women will show up, about the prime importance of Imax and PLF screens and about the impossibility of tentpole competition in the COVID era, could genuinely change the theatrical industry for the better.

Or, we’ll just start seeing movies based on forgotten toys and important World War II figures. Three years after what was supposed to be the opening weekend of “Tenet,” this probably isn’t how Christopher Nolan figured he’d be doing his part to save theatrical. But he’ll probably take it just the same.

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