They’re calling it the Barbenheimer Fever! Two films from two notable directors broke sales records on its opening weekend in the United States. But the films couldn’t be more different from each other. One is a pink, plastic, movie phenomenon, while the other is literally about blowing up the world. Nevertheless, the double feature weekend is selling out. And if you haven’t seen it yet, we have one question, why not?
Barbie by Greta Gerwig
The Barbie movie was the long-awaited live-action adaptation of the beloved cartoon and doll character of the same name. It’s a toy that’s been around since the 1960s and has established a cult following. The new movie directed by Greta Gerwig was a bid to appeal to older audiences and incite a sense of nostalgia for adults who grew up with the franchise.
Margot Robbie’s portrayal of the character was very successful. And the story was compelling. So it’s no surprise that it grossed over $155 million on opening weekend in cinemas. But its sales broke records, especially for Greta Gerwig. She is now the title-holder for the female director who sold out the most movie tickets by the first weekend of her film.
The global sales for the movie amounted to $337 million from all the countries it was distributed to. The demographic of moviegoers was, of course, mostly women.
Oppenheimer by Christopher Nolan
Christopher Nolan once again made movie magic with his biopic, Oppenheimer, about the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the director of the Manhattan Project that created the atomic bomb.
In contrast to Barbie, Oppenheimer was full of serious dialogues and complex political and moral scenes. And with a star-studded cast, it was sure to be another Nolan classic. The movie was also shown in IMAX theatres all over the world to take advantage of Nolan’s epic cinematography on the film.
Barbenheimer Opening Weekend
The most surprising thing about the Barbenheimer Fever is that it was announced to be opening on the same day, not just in the United States, but globally as well. People were initially skeptical about this since it was viewed as a clear division of the demographic of viewers.
But the films and audiences proved everyone wrong. In another instance of Hollywood movie magic, Barbenheimer out-grossed all its contemporaries. Barbie’s sales amounts to $155 million in US sales while Oppenheimer had around $80.5 million in local theaters. Barbenheimer combined even bested the opening weekend sales of all Marvel movies and Avatar: Way of Water.
The reason both movies are so successful is not just the hype. The storylines are compelling, coming from actors who care about the industry a lot. In fact, the marketing and press tours for both movies have been rushed or cut short at some point so that the actors could attend the writers’ and actors’ strikes happening all over.
Nevertheless, their appearance in solidarity with the strikes didn’t hurt sales. In fact, the people on strike are saying the general audience should watch both movies. It just shows how much impact Barbenheimer has made in cinema history.