Calay News
The two films should allow theaters in the United States and Canada to add their best income in one weekend since the COVID-19 pandemic, which dealt a severe blow to movie theaters, according to the specialized sites The Hollywood Reporter and Deadline.
While “Barbie” brought in $155 million in weekend receipts, “Oppenheimer” sold $80.5 million in tickets.
Fueled by a pink marketing spree from toy group Mattel, which released the first Barbie doll in 1959, and production partners Warner Bros. Studios, Greta Gerwig’s comedy got off to a better start than the popular “Super Mario,” inspired by the famous video game character (it grossed 146 million in early April), or James Cameron’s sequel to Avatar (“Avatar,” with 134 million in December 20-22).
In a wry pop tale in which pink and sequins are taken literally, Barbie, played by Margot Robbie, is asked to trade her heels for Birkenstock sandals to leave her perfect world of Barbie Land and immerse herself in the real world. Ryan Gosling plays the male character of the Ken doll.
According to industry media, it is the best release in North American theaters for a film directed by a woman, ahead of “Wonder Woman” by Patty Jenkins (2017) and “Captain Marvel,” co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck (2019).
Meanwhile, “Oppenheimer,” a Christopher Nolan biopic about the American physicist who developed the atomic bomb, is also off to a very good start for a three-hour movie, with $80.5 million in revenue, according to Comscore.
The simultaneous release of these two long-awaited films with opposing stories in the middle of the boreal summer caused a stir among moviegoers, and the ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon took over social media. According to the National Association of Theater Owners in the United States, more than 200,000 moviegoers planned to see both films on the same day over the weekend.
The controversial child trafficking thriller “Sound of Freedom” followed on the podium with $20 million, followed by “Mission: Impossible: Deadly Judgment Part One” with $19.5 million and “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” with $6.7 million.
