While the Hollywood Studios and WGA and SAG-AFTRA are at a standstill in labor talks –streaming residuals being a big bone of contention– the theatrical side of the business exploded with Barbenheimer together grossing over $511M worldwide, $235.5M of that being domestic. Never before in the history of Hollywood movies have two films opened respectively to $100M+ and $50M at the domestic box office.
As of Sunday, Warner Bros.’ Barbie counts a domestic opening of $155M with $182M abroad, while Universal’s Oppenheimer did $80.5M domestic and another $93.7M abroad.
Comscore this AM says this weekend for all movies stateside came in at $301.6M, making it the fourth time only in the industry where the domestic marketplace for all pics has been greater than $300M. It’s the largest opening since Dec. 17, 2021 when Spider-Man: No Way Home led all pics ($281.8m) and the largest since prior to the pandemic, that being April 26, 2019, when Avengers: End Game led all titles to an overall $357M all-time record weekend.
Below is a list of the records that both pics’ broke this weekend:
Barbie
–Largest Domestic Opening of 2023 year to date, besting Super Mario Bros.‘ $146.4 3-day weekend.
–Largest Warner Bros. Advance Sales ever at $49.5M
–Largest Pre‐Shows of 2023 YTD besting the $17.5M apiece made by Ant‐Man & the Wasp Quantumania and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.
–Largest Grossing Day of 2023 YTD, $70.8M, besting Super Mario Bros Movie‘s $54.8M.
–Largest Opening for a female directed film stateside, outstripping Captain Marvel‘s $153.4M.
–Second highest opening for a movie from a woman filmmaker, second to Captain Marvel‘s $456.6M global start (unadjusted for currency swings and inflation).
–Largest Non‐Sequel, Non‐Remake film released in July beating The Secret Life Of Pets‘ $104.4M start in 2016.
–Largest domestic opening for Greta Gerwig as a Director (Prior: Little Woman ‐ $16.8M)
–Largest domestic opening for Margot Robbie (Prior: Suicide Squad ‐ $133.7m)
–Largest domestic opening for Ryan Gosling (Prior: Blade Runner 2049 ‐ $32.8m)
–Overseas, Barbie is the biggest launch for Gerwig, Gosling and Robbie.
–Largest Opening Weekend for a Movie Based on a Toy (Prior: Transformers: Dark of the Moon ‐ $115.9m)
–Largest WB Non‐Sequel/Non‐DC Opening (Prior: It ‐ $123.4m)
—Barbie has already surpassed the lifetime grosses of many of other female-led movies including Ocean’s 8 ($297.7M), Bird of Prey ($205.3M) and Little Women ($218.8M).
Oppenheimer
–Christopher Nolan’s third highest grossing opening weekend ever after, both global and domestic The Dark Knight Rises ($249M, $161M ) and The Dark Knight ($198M, $158M).
–The biggest global day & date opening weekend ever for a biopic outpegging Bohemian Rhapsody ($124M). Stateside, it’s the 3rd biggest start for a biopic after American Sniper ($89.2M) and Passion of the Christ ($83.8M).
–The biggest global opening for a drama since 2019 ahead of Creed III ($100.2M).
–The highest grossing opening weekend for an R-rated film YTD beating out John Wick: Chapter 4 ($73.8M).
–Biggest Imax opening for a Christopher Nolan movie and biggest Imax for a Universal title in U.S. Canada and biggest for July overall and 2023 YTD with $21.1M.
–Third biggest international B.O. opening for a Nolan film in like-for-likes behind Dark Knight Rises ($131M) and Dark Knight ($94.2M). Imax has grossed $13.9M of the international total from only 329 screens making it offshore the biggest Imax start for Nolan, the month of July and the biggest Imax weekend in Mexico, India, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt, Chile, Colombia, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Czech Republic.
–The biggest non-superhero Nolan opening weekend in 55 markets including UK & Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, Mexico, Spain and Brazil.
–The biggest opening day for a Nolan film in 33 markets including Saudi Arabia, U.A.E. India, Netherlands, Argentina and Belgium.