Box Office Update: Barbenheimer lives up to the hype!

The double bill of Barbie and Oppenheimer, dubbed Barbenheimer, is proving to be an historic event.

It would seem for once the hype and anticipation was not overblown as the epic event known as Barbenheimer has come and is proving to be a massive success. Right now (Per Deadline) the box office is looking to have nearly $310 million in receipts, which would be the best weekend of the post-pandemic world and would be the fourth highest weekend in the history of the box office. This will also mark the first weekend where a movie opened to over $100 million with a second opening to over $50 million.

We all knew Barbie would take the top of the charts, but no one knew exactly how high it could get. Warner Bros was being modest when they said they thought the film get get to $75 million for the weekend, it appears that is right around where the film got to in one day! Right now tracking has the film hitting $150 million, which would beat The Super Mario Bros. Movie opening of $146.3 million for best opening weekend of the year, but others see the film going even higher and hitting closer to $170 million, which is entirely possible as this movie doesn’t seem like just a movie, but an event. 

Not only is the film garnering strong reviews, currently at 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, those reviews are equally matched by the fans as the audience score is also at 90%. The film has unexpectedly become a bit of a lightning rod on the internet with the vocal minority taking issue with some of the films themes. I saw the movie and thoroughly enjoyed it, I got what I expected from a tongue in cheek style story about a doll I personally knew very little about. And for my money, the “I’m Just Ken” musical number is worth the price of admission alone! You can check out Chris Bumbray’s 7/10 review here.

Everyone knew Barbie would be huge, so the fact that it is over-performing is no huge surprise. What may be a surprise is the numbers Oppenheimer is putting up, as that film is currently looking at a $77 million start. That puts it over $17 million where I saw it hitting and is an insane number for a three hour long film that has only one action scene surrounded by a bunch of dialogue! But the music by Academy Award winner Ludwig Göransson accompanies the film so beautifully that those scenes of dialogue play out like intense action scenes. And all of that is before we get to the final hour of the film which is one of the most gripping court room dramas I have ever seen. As I was not familiar with the full story of what happened to Mr. Oppenheimer, that final hour had me on the edge of my seat with its twists and turns. And the acting in this film is pitch perfect. I would be surprised if we don’t see Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr and Emily Blunt as Oscar Nominees at next year’s ceremony.

We all know Christopher Nolan, and most of us love him. I personally count three of his films in my top 20 of all time (Interstellar, The Dark Knight, Inception) and own all of his scripts because I love dissecting them (already have the Oppenheimer script pre-ordered, it comes out August 2nd). So it is safe to say that I am one of those “Nolan fan boys” that you hear about. If Nolan released a film I didn’t like, I would be the first to say so, luckily that isn’t the case here. Oppenheimer is a near masterpiece of story telling. I may now count four of Nolan’s films in my top 20 of all time! Much like Barbie, Oppenheimer is pulling in stellar reviews (currently at 93% on Rotten Tomatoes) with even better audience scores (currently at a 94%).You can check out Eric Walkuski’s 8/10 review here.

Third place will go to Tom Cruise and Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One which is looking to drop over 50% for a second weekend in the $25 million range. It isn’t a horrible drop and I think we will see this number even out in the weeks to come as the thrill of this Barbenheimer event dies down and people say “oh yeah, I haven’t seen Mission: Impossible yet, let’s go check that out tonight!” Fourth place will go to the unexpected blockbuster of the summer Sound of Freedom which is looking to take in an additional $20 million while fifth place will go to Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny with what is looking like a $7 million weekend.

Have you seen Barbie or Oppenheimer yet? If so, let us know your thoughts in the comments section and don’t forget to check back tomorrow when we have a full run down on this weekend’s historic box office.