Barbie and Oppenheimer Dominate Box Office with Impressive Earnings
The box office race between two highly anticipated films, Barbie and Oppenheimer, has resulted in a clear winner. Greta Gerwig’s Barbie film, featuring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, has managed to generate an impressive $337 million (equivalent to 303 million euros). It collected a significant portion of this amount, $155 million (almost 140 million euros), in the United States alone during its release weekend, which spanned from Thursday to Saturday. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer biopic, starring Cillian Murphy, also performed well, accumulating $94 million worldwide and an additional $80.5 million in the US, summing up to a global total of almost $174 million (157 million euros).
Together, the two films surpassed the milestone of 460 million euros in worldwide collection. This achievement is particularly significant amid the struggling movie theater industry, where even the latest installments of popular franchises like Indiana Jones and Mission: Impossible have struggled to attract audiences since the onset of the pandemic.
The joint phenomenon created by the simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer, playfully referred to as “Barbenheimer,” proved to be a winning formula. The films have successfully enticed millions of people to refresh themselves both physically and mentally by attending theaters worldwide. In fact, their joint premiere resulted in the fourth-best weekend in US box office history, a remarkable feat considering that neither of the films is a superhero movie, which usually monopolizes ticket sales.
Breaking records, Barbie, with its extensive marketing campaign, established itself as the highest-grossing film directed by a woman during its opening weekend in the US. It also holds the distinction of having the best opening figures of any film released in 2023, surpassing other highly anticipated movies such as Super Mario Bros., Spider-Man, and Guardians of the Galaxy by a margin of approximately 10 million. Furthermore, Barbie achieved the best opening for its lead actors, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, and set a new record for Warner Bros., excluding DC Comics movies or sequels. On the other hand, Oppenheimer became Christopher Nolan’s third highest-grossing film at its premiere, trailing only his two films from The Dark Knight trilogy. It also ranks as the third-best opening for an autobiographical film, following The Sniper in 2014 and The Passion of the Christ in 2004.
Notably, the success of both films far exceeds their production costs. With a budget of $145 million, Barbie has already doubled its investment, while Oppenheimer, with a budget of $100 million, has also proven to be financially rewarding. This past weekend marked the only occurrence in US box office history where one film surpassed $100 million and another exceeded $50 million in earnings. It is estimated that around 200,000 people in their country of origin purchased tickets to see both films during this weekend.
Amidst the dominance of Barbie and Oppenheimer, there is another unexpected phenomenon in the mix. The independent film Sound of Freedom, previously shelved since 2018, has attracted attention. Angel Studios acquired the rights to the film and distributed it through crowdfunding, which raised an impressive $5 million from 7,000 contributors. Since its premiere on July 4, this controversial film, based on the true story of Tim Ballard, a former US Government employee who dismantled a child trafficking network in Colombia, has earned over $110 million. Its success has even garnered praise from former US President Donald Trump, who hosted a press event at his New Jersey residence, attended by the film’s producers, director, and lead actor, Jim Caviezel.
These exceptional earnings and achievements demonstrate the enduring power of cinema and offer a glimmer of hope for the industry’s recovery.