The combined release of āBarbieā and Christopher Nolanās āOppenheimer,ā dubbed āBarbenheimer,āĀ has become a pop culture sensation ā and one that might revive a struggling movie industry.
Barbenheimer was the fourth highest-grossing industry weekend of all time in North America, totaling $302 million Sunday. Analysts believe it will grow even more when final numbers are reported Monday.
Coming in behind āBarbie,ā āOppenheimerā opened at $80.5 million domestically over the weekend, according to Comscore. Both movies essentially doubled predictions from weeks ago, Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, said.
Itās unprecedented to not only have two films do so well, but also to help each other with the Barbenheimer trend, Dergarabedian said.
āI canāt really think of any parallels ever,ā Dergarabedian said. āWhere both movies became bigger because of each other.ā
Itās also a tale of two trajectories, Dergarabedian said, between a commercial blockbuster and a three-hour historical drama.
āBoth can be considered absolute homerun hits, and both are gonna perform in the coming weeks in a different way,ā Dergarabedian said.
The two movies can enjoy a summer with little competition, particularly āBarbieā since there havenāt been female-driven blockbusters since āThe Little Mermaid.ā
āBarbieā took in $70.5 million in North American theaters Friday, including the Thursday pre-shows.
The movie has made the biggest domestic start for a female-directed movie. Its closest comparison is āWonder Womanā in 2017, directed by Patty Jenkins, which raked in about $38 million domestically onĀ opening day, according toĀ Box Office Mojo. āCaptain Marvel,ā co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, brought in about $62 million.
āBarbieā was distributed by Warner Bros., owned by CNNās parent company Warner Bros. Discovery.
Preview showings of āBarbieā brought in $22.3 million, according to theĀ Hollywood Reporter.
The Mattel doll film beat āOppenheimer,ā which earned $33 million on Friday ā also an impressive feat.
Itās a win for director Christopher Nolan, surpassing many of his previous hits: āInceptionā brought in around $22 million on opening day and āDunkirkā $20 million, though it didnāt reach opening day numbers for āThe Dark Knightā and āThe Dark Knight Rises.ā
This kind of foot traffic can be expected for big Marvel or Star Wars movies, Boxoffice Pro chief analyst Shawn Robbins said. Itās a big signal to studios that they donāt have to play it safe all the time, he said.
āWhen you have two highly anticipated movies, theyāre counterprogramming in a lot of ways and not cannibalizing each other,ā Robbins said. āThey can succeed at the same time.ā
Before āBarbie,ā āThe Super Mario Bros. Movieā had the biggest opening of 2023 at $146.3 million domestic.
A social media driven campaign to see both movies led to a double-feature Barbenheimer phenomenon. That could bring a much needed rebound to the movie industry. Summer releases from earlier in the season, such as āIndiana Jones and the Dial of DestinyāĀ drew underwhelming box office numbersĀ on opening weekend, drawing $60 million in the United States and $70 million internationally.
āEverything about this movie and the toy is fun,ā Sheri Lambert, a marketing professor at Temple UniversityĀ told CNN. āI think people are looking to escape.ā
Mattel is also not new to nostalgia marketing, making people āreally excitedā about movies that take them back to the past, Lambert added.
Source: CNN News
