The Barbenheimer has struck and looks like the clash has worked well for both Barbie and Oppenheimer, the two big releases of the week. While Oppenheimer is ruling the box office in India over a slightly less impressive Barbie, the international figures paints a completely different picture. As per multiple reports, Barbie has surpassed Oppenheimer in more than 70 international territories.
As per a report in The Hollywood Reporter, Barbie collected $70 million on its first day of release in the US. These, however, also include $22 million from Thursday previews. It is expected to collect $150 million in the US through the weekend and another $120 million from as many as 70 worldwide territories. That means it could collect well over $280 million by Sunday.
Why is this impressive? Because these figures install Barbie as the year's biggest opener, leaving behind Tom Cruise's Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One. The film collected $235 million over the first weekend and was also made a budget double of Barbie's. Barbie's great numbers also make it the third biggest Friday for a Warner Bros film ever, just behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 and Batman V Superman. Director Greta Gerwig also has reasons to rejoice as a $280 million opening could make the film the biggest opener by a female director.
On the other hand, as per a Deadline report, Oppenheimer is eyeing a $165 million worldwide weekend, of which $88.9 million might come from international markets. This would make it Nolan's third highest-grossing opening weekend ever, behind only The Dark Knight Rises ($131M) and The Dark Knight ($94M).
"The movie industry has a very healthy record of accommodating two big pictures," said David Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research. "The studios are very experienced and they don't step on each other," he added, noting that both movies generally attract different audiences.
"Oppenheimer would be more male-oriented and older, and Barbie will be more female-oriented and younger," David told AFP. "But I think everybody is going to both, and it's a fit."