Mumbai: Filmmaker Greta Gerwig’s female-fueled Barbie opened to a historic $155 million domestically, a threshold usually reserved for male-driven superhero fare or marquee IP, such as the final Harry Potter movie. It came in well ahead of an expected $90 million to $110 million and helped fuel one of the biggest weekends in history.
Barbie — which brings to life Mattel’s iconic fashion doll — is also strutting to big numbers overseas. The pic launched to an impressive $182 million from 70 markets for a global bow of $337 million against a $145 million production budget. It scored the biggest opening ever for a WB title in major markets, including Mexico ($22.3 million), Brazil ($15.9 million) and Australia ($14.6 million). The U.K. led with $22.9 million, the biggest showing for the studio since the pandemic. Barbie wasn’t expected to make a big splash in Asian markets, although it did do better than expected in China with $8.2 million.
In North America, Barbie scored the biggest domestic start ever for a movie directed by a woman, solo or otherwise. The solo crown previously belonged to Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman, which started off with $103.3 million domestically in 2017. In 2019, the Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck-directed Captain Marvel opened to $153 million.
Barbie also set a slew of other records, including landing the top opening of 2023 to date ahead of The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($146.3 million). The next closest 2023 launch belonged to Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse ($120.7 million), followed by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ($118.4 million) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania ($106.9 million). Otherwise, many releases haven’t been able to inch past the $100 million mark.
Universal said the R-rated “Oppenheimer” collected an estimated $80.5 million in the United States and Canada — about 60 percent more than analysts had predicted before release — and an additional $94 million overseas. The domestic audience was 62 percent male. Some IMAX locations playing “Oppenheimer” are sold out for the coming weeks, in particular venues playing the film in 70-millimeter format.
Barbie is skewing heavily female, or 68 percent, while Oppenheimer is male-dominated (64 percent). The performance of Oppenheimer was almost more surprising to some than Barbie, considering its running time and topic.
Other stats: Oppenheimer ranks as the third-biggest opening ever for a biographical film in North America behind American Sniper ($89.3 million) and The Passion of the Christ ($83.8 million), not adjusted for inflation.
Overseas, Oppenheimer launched with a strong $93.7 million from 78 markets for a global start of $174.2 million against a $100 million production budget. The film was Nolan’s biggest non-superhero opening in no fewer than 55 markets.
