‘Barbie’ Opens Even Bigger Than First Reported with $162M Weekend, 'Oppenheimer' Too with $82M

The opening weekend numbers for Greta Gerwig's 'Barbie' signalled the biggest debut ever for a film directed by a woman

“Barbenheimer” was an even bigger success than first reported!

Two of the year's most anticipated films, Barbie and Oppenheimer, were runaway hits at the box office over the weekend, with Barbie blowing past Sunday's already record-breaking estimates, with a three-day haul of $162 million, per Variety.

The movie — which boasts a star-studded cast with Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Kate McKinnon, Will Ferrell and America Ferrera — had been previously estimated to have brought in $155 million over its weekend opening, crowning Greta Gerwig with the biggest opening ever for a female-director.

Related: 'Barbie' Breaks Box Office Record for Female Director with $155M; 'Oppenheimer' Smashes Expectations

The film, based on the popular Mattel doll, also easily earned the biggest opening weekend of 2023, beating The Super Mario Bros. Movie's $146 million that was scored earlier this year, Variety reported.

Several people in the film industry took to social media to congratulate Gerwig on the massive achievement including fellow female director Ry Russo-Young, who previously directed the TV miniseries Nuclear Family.

She wrote on Instagram that amid the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strike, “Barbie and its success looms as a beacon of hope.”

Related: Cillian Murphy Says He’s Open to Playing a Ken in 'Barbie 2'

“It's wildly original, feminist, giant in scope and swing, and feels singular to a perspective,” she added. “These are all rare qualities for big movies these days. I hope to see more made like this in the coming years. Go Greta!”

The weekend was also a win for the Christopher Nolan-directed film, which had initially been projected to have opened at $80.5 million on Sunday (a far cry from early predictions a month ago that set the film at about a $40 - $50 million opening weekend, per Forbes), but actually opened to $82.4 million.

The film, which stars Cillian Murphy as Manhattan Project physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, has also given Nolan another box-office juggernaut only falling short of the last two movies in his Batman The Dark Knight series. Oppenheimer outperformed opening weekends for 2010’s Inception, 2017’s Dunkirk and 2014’s Interstellar, per Forbes.

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The “Barbenheimer” phenomenon has propelled both films to the highest collective opening weekend for the box office since the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing in $300 million, Variety reported.

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