Barbenheimer is officially a box office phenomenon.
For those of you who haven’t been on the internet much over the past month or so, Barbenheimer refers to the same-day release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer – two very different films that captured the attention of cinephiles nonetheless. What started as something of a meme has translated into box office gold for both movies, with stunning debuts that have only held strong in both their second weekends.
But there are a lot of reasons why Barbenheimer is such a marvel, one of them being that neither movie is, well, Marvel. As Hollywood leans more and more on franchises, superheroes, and established IP, the ongoing victories of two original movies has many analysts, industry watchers, and movie lovers celebrating. Even before their July 21 release date, a box office analyst with 30 years in the industry told IGN he has “never quite seen anything like this.”
Plus, it comes during a year where the box office has seen all kinds of ups and downs. Movies that were seen as reliable bets, like Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (which may have been doomed by releasing just a week before Barbie and Oppenheimer), have fallen short, while others, like the Super Mario Bros. Movie, have seen franchise-starting success.
And while opening weekend was impressive enough, both Barbie and Oppenheimer are held strong in their second weekends. According to Comscore, Barbie and Oppenheimer only fell 43% and 44%, respectively, which is much more than most blockbusters hold.
While Barbie seems on the way to hitting the $1 billion mark, let’s put it all in perspective now and take a look at the records that Barbie, Oppenheimer, and Barbenheimer at large have shattered, based on numbers from both Box Office Mojo and Comscore.
Barbie
- With an absolutely massive $162 million domestic opening, Barbie not only secured the biggest debut weekend of 2023 so far (surpassing the Super Mario Bros. Movie at $146 million), but was also the biggest domestic opening ever for a non-superhero film, sequel, or remake, as well as the biggest domestic opening weekend for a movie directed by a woman. The previous record-holder for that last record was Captain Marvel at $153 million.
- It’s the biggest opening weekend for a movie based on a toy, beating Transformers: Dark of the Moon’s $116 million.
- It also had the highest-grossing opening day of 2023 so far at $70 million in the States.
- After its record-breaking weekend, Barbie set more high-watermarks for Warner Bros. by earning $26.1 million and $26 million in the U.S. and Canada on its first Monday and Tuesday, respectively, putting it ahead of The Dark Knight and Aquaman for sales on those days of the week.
- Even before Barbie came out, it broke a Warner Bros. record for pre-sales at $49.5 million.
- It had both Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling’s biggest opening weekend ever – which is impressive when you consider Robbie had 2016’s Suicide Squad open at $133 million. Previously, Gosling’s biggest opening was Blade Runner at $32 million.
- It also marks the biggest opening of Gerwig’s career, surpassing Little Women at $16.8 million.
- At $774 million globally and still going strong, Barbie is currently the third highest-grossing movie of the year (behind Super Mario Bros. Movie and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3) after just its second weekend.
Oppenheimer
- At a similarly impressive $82 million domestically, Oppenheimer had the biggest R-rated opening of 2023 so far, beating John Wick: Chapter 4 at $73 million.
- According to numbers from Universal (per Variety), it’s the first R-rated movie to gross at least $10 million for 10 days in a row.
- Many of its record-breaks came with its IMAX release; grossing $35 million in IMAX globally in that first weekend, it marks the biggest IMAX opening for a Nolan film, a Universal title, a movie released in July, and the biggest IMAX opening overall of 2023 so far. In its second weekend, it became the second-fastest movie to reach $80 million in IMAX after Avengers: Endgame.
- When you combine the $82 million it opened to domestically with the $93 million it made from international territories, it had the biggest international opening for a biopic, surpassing Bohemian Rhapsody’s $124 million.
- At more than $400 million already, it’s the sixth highest-grossing Nolan film just in its second weekend. It will likely close in on #5, Dunkirk ($512.4 million), by next weekend, and has already surpassed the lifetime grosses of Tenet ($365 million) and Batman Begins ($373 million).
- It had Nolan’s best opening for a non-Batman movie.
Barbenheimer
- At $311 million stateside, Barbenheimer opening weekend was the biggest box office weekend of 2023 so far.
- Barbie and Oppenheimer’s respective openings marked the first time ever two movies both opened to more than $80 million in one weekend.
- Their openings marked the fourth-biggest domestic weekend of all time, behind only the opening weekends of Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
For more on Barbenheimer, check out how Nolan and Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy are embracing the trend, and how it’s rekindling a debate surrounding taking photos in theaters.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
