Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer are doing the business at the box office this weekend. The take is shaping up to be huge, worldwide. They are powering the overall weekend to be the biggest cinemagoing weekend since Avengers: Endgame in 2019. North American ticket sales are on track to cross $300 million.
Barbie is headed for a historic $155+ million opening domestically, with women across America flocking to theaters in big numbers. There is another $120 million to come globally, a little slower than in the US as women outside America don’t think they are quite as oppressed by the patriarchy.
It is the highest domestic opening of 2023 to date and much is being made of this being the biggest domestic start ever for a movie directed by a woman.
Oppenheimer is now projected for $77 million domestically for the weekend. This would make it Nolan’s third-biggest opening. Only the 2nd and 3rd Batman movies he helmed come in ahead of this. Oppenheimer is also on track for a $90 million box office overseas.
All of this is bad news for Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. It is sitting at just over $270 million worldwide but has a $300 million budget hanging around its neck. The seventh entry in the franchise is heading for a franchise-worst drop of 55% in its second week and may struggle to gain the legs needed to turn a profit. It has also largely faded from public consciousness already, drowned out further by the Barbenheimer noise. This may signal that potentially ending the franchise after the next installment is the right answer. It will snare just $20 million at the box office this weekend.
Domestically, Sound of Freedom could well push Mission: Impossible down into fourth place.
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