Barbie, Oppenheimer garner $302 mln in U.S. box office

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie has garnered $155 million, while Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer garnered $80.5 million at the U.S. box office over the weekend, according to Comscore.

The release of the two movies, which are of different genres and target audiences, dubbed Barbenheimer, has been highly anticipated, and was the fourth highest-grossing movie weekend in North America, totaling $302 million.

“I can’t really think of any parallels ever, where both movies became bigger because of each other. Both can be considered absolute homerun hits, and both are gonna perform in the coming weeks in a different way,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.

The Barbie box office numbers make it the biggest debut weekend of 2023, and the biggest debut for a female-directed movie in the US. The closest to the record was Patty Jenkins’s Wonder Woman in 2017, and Captain Marvel, co-directed by Anna Boden in 2019.

Oppenheimer’s box office number surpasses Nolan’s biggest hits; Inception, which opened with $22 million in 2010, and Dunkirk, with $20 million in 2017, but did not reach opening day numbers for The Dark Knight in 2008 and The Dark Knight Rises in 2012.

Barbenheimer has been driven by a social media campaign from fans of both movies to see them in theaters, especially with both being released on the same day.

Barbie’s lead actress, Margot Robbie, and Gerwig joined in on the Barbenheimer fun with a picture of them showing off their tickets to Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny on June 30.

Barbie is currently the biggest US opening in 2023, a title previously held by The Super Mario Bros. Movie with $146.3 million.