Barbie and Oppenheimer smash the box office around the world.
Barbie and
Oppenheimer – the Barbenheimer
one-two punch that was the great hope for cinemas still recovering from the pandemic – have triumphed at the global box office over the weekend.
Greta Gerwig’s vibrantly coloured comedy, which stars Margot Robbie as the iconic doll, had easily the biggest opening in Australian cinemas this year - surpassing
The Super Mario Bros Movie.
Worldwide, it took a stunning $501 million. And while projected to take at most $150 million in North America,
Barbie reached a whopping $230 million. In Australia, it took $21.6 million, including many sold-out previews on Wednesday night, and brought waves of patrons to cinemas dressed in pink.
The only bigger opening weekends have been largely superhero and fantasy sequels, headed by
Avengers: Endgame ($34.1 million).
In possibly a bigger surprise given it’s a three-hour, MA15+ rated, historical biopic about the father of the atom bomb – and was competing against
Barbie – Christopher Nolan’s
Oppenheimer opened strongly with almost $260 million worldwide.
Expected to take $74 million in North America, it performed much better with $120 million. In Australia
, Oppenheimer took a strong $9.4 million.
Two movies that lived up to the hype - not centring on superheros, not sequels and fizzing with ideas - had audiences heading to cinemas in the biggest numbers since the pandemic shutdowns. While Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken doubtless attracted patrons to
Barbie,
Oppenheimer shone despite having the lower-key
Cillian Murphy in the title role.
The breaking of box office records – always to be taken with a grain of salt given increasing ticket prices - was always a chance considering the Barbenheimer buzz.
Barbie had the biggest American opening for a movie directed by a woman, either solo or in a duo. The previous record holders were Patty Jenkins’
Wonder Woman and Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s
Captain Marvel.
According to
The Hollywood Reporter, it was the biggest American opening for stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and the biggest three-day opening for a movie based on a toy, eclipsing
Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
The success of Oppenheimer meant the two new releases took more than $750 million around the world. Universal Pictures, which released both films in Australia, said they drove Australian box office records for both a Saturday ($11.1 million) and a Sunday ($10.5 million).
Australian cinema executives were buzzing on Monday morning. The chief executive of Hoyts cinemas, Damien Keogh, described the box office for the two movies as crazy.