The Barbenheimer weekend is underway and two of the summer’s most anticipated movies, Barbie and Oppenheimer, are on track to break multiple box office records.
The movie Margot Robbie, 33, has already registered the biggest opening day of 2023 with $70.5 in Friday ticket sales.
The Cillian Murphy, 47, movie, by comparison, grossed $33 million for the third-biggest take of the year.
Moviegoers flock to both films, with many opting to see both in a double feature.
This renewed interest in going to the cinemas is expected to raise an estimated $308 million in three days, according to deadline.
Let’s party: Barbenheimer weekend is underway and two of the summer’s most anticipated movies, Barbie and Oppenheimer, are on track to break multiple box office records
Atomic bomb: The Cillian Murphy, 47, film raised $33 million for the third biggest take of the year
That’s good enough to make this weekend the biggest box office since theaters reopened after the pandemic lockdowns.
It’s also enough ticket sales to make it the fourth-biggest box office weekend of all time, following Avengers: Endgame’s $402 million in April 2019, Avengers: Infinity Wars’ $314.8 million in April 2018, and Star Wars: Force Awakens’ $313.2 million in December 2015.
And it’s all done by a bubbly blonde and her hembo boyfriend – not a superhero or space adventurer in sight.
Greta Gerwig’s 39-year-old bubblegum pink movie is on track to make more than $161 million in its opening weekend.
Barbie is also on track to take the title for the biggest opening weekend for a female-directed film.
Co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, Captain Marvel currently holds the record for any film with a female director with the $153 million it opened with in 2019.
Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman holds the record for all films directed exclusively by a woman in 2017, with $103 million.
Oppenheimer, a film about J. Robert Oppenheimer’s development of the atomic bomb, is on track to gross $77 million over the three-day weekend, propelled by the film’s opening day $33 million.
The 52-year-old Christopher Nolan biopic is its third-highest opening weekend and the best opening ever for an R-rated film, surpassing John Wick: Chapter 4’s $73.8 million.
There’s never been an opening weekend with one movie grossing over $100 million and a second grossing over $50 million like Barbie and Oppenheimer are on target.
Barbie had the largest $22.3 million advance sale of any Warner Brothers film ever.
Barbie world: The movie Margot Robbie, 33, has already registered the biggest opening day of 2023 with $70.5 in ticket sales on Friday
Box office success: . Moviegoers flock to both films, with many opting to see both in a double feature
Ticket sales: This renewed interest in going to movie theaters is expected to raise an estimated $308 million in three days, according to Deadline
Big numbers: Oppenheimer is on track to bring in $77 million over the three-day weekend
Winner: Greta Gerwig’s 39-year-old bubblegum pink movie is on track to make more than $161 million in its opening weekend
They are also top box office opening weekend numbers for Gerwig, Robbie and Ryan Gosling, 42.
Come on Barbie, let’s party because the movie is also one of the best of all time for a female lopsided movie and the only one not based on a superhero or established franchise.
In addition to Robbie and Gosling, Barbie also stars Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera, Will Ferrell, Simu Liu and Issa Rae.
In addition to Murphy, Oppenheimer also stars Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Rami Malek, Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh.