The shocking combination of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer have blown out box office expectations with both movies surpassing expected debuts.
The two polar opposite films releasing on the same day has brought both films even more attention, and garnered the nickname Barbenheimer from many. So far Barbie is the biggest movie debut of the year, making $155 million USD already and becoming the biggest opening weekend by a woman-directed film. Captain Marvel, co-directed by Anna Boden, was the previous holder of this record, until this past weekend.
Oppenheimer has already surpassed its expected revenue of $50 million by quite a bit, making $80.5 million in its US debut. At the global box office, Oppenheimer already totals $174 million and Barbie has skyrocketed up to $337 million. The double release of these movies has officially become the fourth-biggest overall weekend in movie history, behind Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
According to Variety, “hundreds of thousands” of viewers bought tickets to back-to-back showings of Barbie and Oppenheimer. Recent reports suggest that Quentin Tarantino was one of those viewers, participating in the Barbenheimer festivities this weekend.
With both movies demolishing their box office goals, it seems as though the numbers will only continue to grow exponentially. Get to the theaters now to experience the Barbenheimer extravaganza and be a part of record-breaking movie releases.