Barbie and Oppenheimer are both winning the weekend box office

After months of memes and excitement, the simultaneous release of Barbie And Oppenheimer in theaters has finally arrived. And both films are already off to a good start. BarbieIts Thursday night preview screenings grossed it an impressive $22.3 million, while Oppenheimer‘s theatrical run started Thursday night with $10.5 million.

Barbie‘s number puts it under blockbuster fair inclusive Captain Marvel – which, it should be noted, is a pre-pandemic movie, meaning it came out in a slightly healthier box office environment. In the meantime, Oppenheimer came in with much less than Barbiebut $10.5 million is particularly impressive for an R-rated drama, especially one that runs for three hours.

Both movies are shaping for excellent weekends overallof Barbie with an estimated total of more than $150 million, which would make it the biggest opening of the year so far. Oppenheimer‘s projected total is about $75 million, which would also be a strong total for the biopic.

The Barbie-versus-Oppenheimer the debate began as a fierce rivalry when release dates were first announced. However, as the movies got closer, the conversation started to shift to realizing that the movies made for a nice pairing. Now that they’re both in theaters, it seems the spirit of collaboration continues. According to the latter numbers from AMC Theatersover 40,000 people had advanced tickets to see both films as a double feature, and that number has certainly grown since both were released.

Beyond their initial success, both Barbie And Oppenheimer will try to maintain their impressive early success in the coming weeks and months. Oppenheimer in particular, it already seems to be doing well with sold-out screenings of the dedicated 70mm IMAX format through mid-August in some theaters.