A wildly successful weekend for ‘Barbenheimer’
‘Barbie’ has 2023’s biggest debut while ‘Oppenheimer’ scores Nolan’s largest non-Batman weekend.
Hello! Welcome to The Box Office Report for the weekend of July 21-23, 2023.
1. Barbie
Weekend gross: $155M
Total domestic gross: $155M
Last weekend: New release
Percent drop: NA
Barbenheimer weekend blew away expectations. The duo grossed an estimated $235.5 million together. While the Barbenheimer concept may have begun as a joke or a gimmick, it wound up fueling each film’s debut way past projections.
Barbie’s $155 million weekend is the biggest opener for 2023, with Greta Gerwig’s film topping The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s $146.4 million debut.
The film also set career best opening marks for Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and Gerwig. Robbie’s previous biggest opening weekend was the $133.7 million grossed by the original Suicide Squad movie in 2016, Gosling’s previous biggest opening weekend was the $32.8 million grossed by Blade Runner 2049 in 2017, and Gerwig’s previous biggest opening weekend as a director was the $16.8 million grossed by Little Women in 2019.
Does Warner Bros. have a new franchise on its hands? Gerwig is going to be busy working on Netflix’s Narnia adaptions for a bit.
2. Oppenheimer
Weekend gross: $80.5M
Total domestic gross: $80.5M
Last weekend: New release
Percent drop: NA
Oppenheimer’s opening weekend was probably more of a surprise than the massive haul brought in by Barbie. In early June, Oppenheimer was tracking for somewhere in the $30 million to $35 million range, which would’ve made Christopher Nolan’s latest a flop. Getting swept into the Barbenheimer craze (along with positive reviews) turned Oppenheimer into the biggest non-Batman debut of Nolan’s career.
Before Oppenheimer, Inception’s $62.8 million debut was the largest opening weekend for Nolan after The Dark Knight Rises’ $158.4 million and The Dark Knight’s $158.4 million.
3. Sound of Freedom
Weekend gross: $20.1M
Total domestic gross: $124.7M
Last weekend: 2nd
Percent drop: 26
Something’s fishy about this one …
4. Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One
Weekend gross: $19.5M
Total domestic gross: $118.8M
Last weekend: 1st
Percent drop: 64
Losing the premium large format screens like IMAX and Dolby to Oppenheimer wrecked Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One’s second weekend. Maybe Tom Cruise should buy up a bunch of tickets to inflate the numbers like some other movie.
5. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
Weekend gross: $6.7M
Total domestic gross: $159M
Last weekend: 4th
Percent drop: 45
While Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is still the lowest grossing Indiana Jones movie in the domestic rankings (still trailing Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’s $178.9 million from 1984!), the final Indiana Jones movie has ticked by Temple of Doom in the worldwide rankings ($335 million to $333.1 million).
Box office numbers via The Numbers based on Sunday estimates.
Next weekend
I don’t see Disney’s Haunted Mansion reboot topping either Barbie or Oppenheimer. Barbenheimer is going to still be going strong next weekend. (I’m seeing Oppenheimer at an IMAX. Sorry, Tom Cruise.)
