I’m not sure if you’re aware, but two major films — Barbie and Oppenheimer — came out last week. You might’ve missed it, though! I’m clearly joking.
The Barbenheimer effect has translated into an absolute smashing of Australian and global box office records over the weekend and now I just need Video Ezy to reopen and all will feel well and good in the world.
Barbie made a whopping $560 million AUD for its opening weekend globally and I can’t say I’m surprised, especially considering I can’t even look at the pink Post-It in front of me without hallucinating and seeing Margot Robbie smiling back at me.
As per The Guardian, it’s made $21.5 million in Australia alone since it hit cinemas on July 19 and had the biggest opening weekend for a movie released Down Under in 2023.
The nearest rival of the year was The Super Mario Bros Movie which banked less than half of Barbie at $10.5 million in ticket sales.
These stats make this the biggest debut ever for a film directed by a woman. Greta Gerwig making history over here. It’s also the most successful debut for any movie starring Ryan Gosling and Robbie — the same people who were in The Notebook and The Wolf of Wall Street respectively. Huge.
Oppenheimer also had a doozy of a weekend and took home $258 million AUD across the world, and $9.36 million locally, making it Christopher Nolan‘s biggest non-Batman debut.
Its Aussie ticket sales were 26% higher than Inception and 56% higher than Dunkirk, as per The Guardian.
Translation? The Barbenheimer effect has created the biggest box office weekend of 2023 so far.
As per The Guardian, UK cinema chain Vue said one fifth of customers saw both Barbie and Oppenheimer in a double bill over the weekend — the biggest for UK cinema sales since COVID.
The opening weekend for the year’s most hyped about films definitely had an impact on Tom Cruise and all of his teeth, with ticket sales for Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I dropping 64% globally after a celebrated opening weekend.
“It was a truly historic weekend and continues the positive box office momentum of 2023,” Michael O’Leary, president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners, told The Guardian.
“People recognised that something special was happening and they wanted to be a part of it.”
Sadly I personally was not part of it, but the curiosity is absolutely killing me and it’s at the top of my to-do list. Because cinema’s back, baby!
I don’t want to wait for these ones to hit streaming services, you know? Speaking of, I wonder who will be scoring the streaming rights of the films on everyone’s lips? Rumours are saying BINGE but we’ll see.
