Barbie and Oppenheimer both opened to tremendous numbers in previews Thursday night, and it appears like both are on track for truly stunning numbers, potentially leading to the busiest weekend of the post-pandemic era. Barbie, from Greta Gerwig and Warner Bros. Discovery, is expected to rake in between $68 million and $70 million today, including last night’s preview take of $22.3 million, putting it on track for a $150 million opening weekend at 4,243 screenings. Some box office experts predict that the film could gross up to $170 million. In either case, that would be enough to overtake the $146.3 million opening weekend of the year’s biggest blockbuster, The Super Mario Bros. Movie.
@PopBase’s Tweet garnered more than 1.2 Million Views, 2.9K+ Retweets, and 33.1K+ Likes with the announcement of Barbie’s breakthrough performance at the box office:
#Barbie earns the biggest preview debut at the domestic Box Office in 2023 with $22.3 million. pic.twitter.com/Ujz4j0aEHQ
— Pop Base (@PopBase) July 21, 2023
That’s not to suggest, Oppenheimer, the hefty, dark, gloomy three-hour biopic movie about the physicist who invented the atomic bomb, is going away. Far from it, with $10.5 million in previews taken yesterday, it’s pursuing a $32 million opening day and a $75 million three-day weekend from 3,610 screenings. It’s also worth noting that the film is being shown on fewer screens than Barbie, and fewer screenings due to its length. Because of the more mature themes and older-skewing audiences, the film is predicted to have a lesser decrease over the next several weeks than Barbie, which is expected to be frontloaded as most female-skewing films do.
This adds up to an astounding $225 million weekend for movie theaters, which will be overjoyed. That’s not all. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is still in theaters and is expected to gross $25 million in its second weekend. This would give it a domestic running total of $124.2 million. The film is also doing well worldwide, and it will get an additional boost in a few weeks when it can return to IMAX, which is presently booked out exclusively for Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is likely to finish fifth with a weekend take of $7 million, giving it a total of $159.3 million by the end of the weekend.
Both films have gotten outstanding reviews. Barbie has received an 89% positive review on Rotten Tomatoes and 81 on Metacritic. Meanwhile, Oppenheimer has a whopping 93% on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 90 on Metacritic. The positive word-of-mouth around both films is expected to fuel their success even further. To add to the excitement, the viral sensation known as “Barbenheimer” has had a significant impact, attracting approximately 200,000 eager fans who opted for same-day double features, booking tickets for both films.
Barbie or Oppeheimer? Which one is better in your opinion? Share your thoughts with us in the comment section.
