"Barbenheimer" Delivers Blowout Weekend For Movies

The “Barbenheimer” weekend’s combination of blowouts and blowups helped deliver the strongest domestic box office weekend of the year, giving the theatrical movie business a sorely needed summer jolt.

Photo Insert: Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” grossed $155 million in the US and Canada between Friday and Sunday, while Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” brought in $81 million domestically, according to the movies’ distributors

Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” grossed $155 million in the US and Canada between Friday and Sunday, while Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” brought in $81 million domestically, according to the movies’ distributors, Robbie Whelan and Erich Schwartzel reported for the Wall Street Journal.

Films on big screens in the US collectively grossed $302 million during the three-day period, making it the strongest weekend of 2023 for theaters in North America and the fourth-strongest weekend ever in the US, Comscore reported.

This marked the only weekend in the top 10 that didn’t feature the opening of a movie from the Star Wars, Jurassic Park, or Marvel superhero franchises.

Heading into the weekend, “Barbie,” which stars Margot Robbie, posted a much higher rate of tickets per transaction compared with other movies, meaning more people are seeing it in big groups, The Box Office Company said.

“It’s unprecedented to see presales like this for an original comedy,” said Marine Suttle, the company’s chief product officer. “It’s performing like a superhero movie.”

The movie industry has been hoping for a shot of adrenaline as it still recovers from the pandemic, with some highly anticipated films still struggling to draw crowds to theaters.

Until recently, the phenomenon of a big blockbuster weekend seemed like a thing of the past, unachievable in an age in which bingeing on the couch had largely replaced going to the movies.

The fan enthusiasm surrounding Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Barbie,” and the World War II drama “Oppenheimer,” from Comcast’s Universal Pictures, is, for now, a breath of fresh air for studios and exhibitors, who also are coming to terms with the effects of two Hollywood strikes that could drag on for months and are already leading to significant production delays.

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