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Barbie and Oppenheimer were both released worldwide on Friday, July 21, 2023, leading to one of the biggest showdowns in the history of Hollywood. Even before the two films debuted, fans had taken the internet by storm debating which movie would out-gross the other at the box office.
Helmed by Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan respectively, Barbie and Oppenheimer couldn't be more different from one another as one is a comedy based on the popular doll brought to us by Mattle and the other is a bleak biopic about the man who wreaked havoc during the Second World War with his invention of the atomic bomb.
However, despite such debates, the internet community embraced the concept of 'Barbenheimer', and many watched both films on the same day. As a result, both Barbie and Oppenheimer had big openings at the box office, leading to a number of records being set and broken. Both movies achieved remarkable feats before the completion of a week of being released.
Setting and breaking records: Barbie and Oppenheimer
Here are some of the remarkable feats that Barbie and Oppenheimer achieved so far.
1. Barbie had the biggest opening weekend ever for a female director
With an earning of $337m on its release weekend, Barbie has made history, pushing Greta Gerwig to become the highest-grossing woman director on an opening weekend. The previous record holder was Anna Boden, who held the title for co-directing Captain Marvel with Ryan Fleck. While the superhero movie grossed $153.4 million domestically in its opening weekend, Barbie has surpassed it.
2. Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer makes the second-biggest opening for a biopic
It is not only Gerwig who broke the record with Barbie. Oppenheimer also marks a remarkable feat by Nolan. After American Sniper, which grossed $89.2 million worldwide in its debut, Oppenheimer's opening marks the movie as the next highest-grossing biopic ever.
3. Barbie marks Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling's biggest opening weekend
Not only Greta Gerwig, but the movie gave stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling their biggest openings ever. Despite having hits like Suicide Squad and Wolf of Wall Street to her name, Barbie has brought Margot Robbie her biggest opening weekend ever. The same goes for Ryan Gosling who is an A-list actor who has delivered multiple blockbusters like Blade Runner 2049.
4. Oppenheimer marks the biggest IMAX opening for Nolan
Christopher Nolan is known for working with IMAX and championing the format. He believes that IMAX screens are the only way to watch his visually resplendent movies. He even worked with IMAX to develop a new black-and-white IMAX camera for his latest biopic movie. It suffices to say that all his hard work has paid off as his 2023 movie gave him his biggest IMAX opening ever with total sales of IMAX tickets of over $21.1 million in the opening weekend.
5. Warner Bros.' biggest opening weekend for a non-DC Movie: Barbie
After seven years, Barbie has given Warner Bros. its biggest opening weekend for a non-DC movie. The studio has never before seen such heavy gains, not even with the Harry Potter franchise. Barbie takes the place of previous record-holder It, which debuted worldwide with $123.4 million.
6. The biggest opening for an R-rated movie after Joker: Oppenheimer
While Joker had the biggest opening weekend ever for an R-rated movie, with $96.2 million worldwide, Oppenheimer is not far behind. Since Joker, there have been many noteworthy R-rated movies which have stolen the show, but none of them had as big an opening as Joker. Oppenheimer finally changed that.
7. Barbenheimer marks the first time two movies opened to over $80 million
No two potential blockbuster movies are released on the same day, and when such releases happen, usually one movie dominates over the other one by a large margin. However, this has not been the case with Barbie and Oppenheimer. This is the first time ever that two huge movies coming from critically acclaimed filmmakers have been released together and have grossed over $80 million in their opening weekends.
Catch Barbie and Oppenheimer at your nearest theaters.
