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Did 'Barbie' perform better than 'Oppenheimer?' Hollywood blockbusters likely to break box office records after massive opening day sales

Margot Robbie starrer 'Barbie' and Christopher Nolan's epic 'Oppenheimer' released on Friday, July 21, with massive opening day sales

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The long-awaited release of 'Barbie, starring Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie, occurred on Friday, July 21, which conflicted with Christopher Nolan's epic 'Oppenheimer'. Moviegoers are flocking to the theaters in droves to catch both movies, with many choosing to watch both as a double feature. According to Deadline, this resurgence in movie theater attendance is predicted to generate $308 million over the course of three days. 

Two of the summer's most eagerly awaited movies, 'Barbie' and 'Oppenheimer', are on track to set numerous box office records during the 'Barbenheimer' weekend. With $70.5 million in ticket sales on Friday, July 21, 'Barbie' already boasts the greatest opening day of 2023. Comparatively, the movie starring Cillian Murphy, 47, made $33 million, the third-highest revenue of the year.

Did 'Barbie' perform better than 'Oppenheimer?'

According to the most recent data, obtained by Deadline, Warner Bros' new franchise based on the Mattel doll earned $45 million on Saturday night (down 36% from Friday/previews), setting the record for the highest opening of 2023. Others are certain that the Greta Gerwing-directed Robbie-Gosling film will gross between $155 million and $160 million worldwide. Warners is not a studio that tends to overestimate things.

While 'Oppenheimer' may be about a bomb, the Universal release is unquestionably not a bomb in the traditional meaning of the word. The film directed by Nolan is aiming for $25.8 million today, down 22% from Friday night's $33 million in previews, for what is expected to be an amazing $80 million debut. 'Oppenheimer' appeared to be following 'Logan,' the R-rated 'X-Men' movie, in terms of box office success, as noticed on Thursday night. That movie's first day and previews were similarly $33 million, but it had a $31.3 million Saturday, leading to an $88.4 million opening.

Additionally, there were enough ticket sales for it to rank as the fourth-highest box office weekend of all time, after 'Avengers: Endgame' ($402 million in April 2019), 'Avengers: Infinity Wars' ($314.8 million in April 2018), and 'Star Wars: Force Awakens' ($313.2 million in December 2015). 'Barbie' is expected to gross over $161 million in its first weekend and it is also expected to have the largest opening weekend of any female-directed movie.

With a $33 million opening day, 'Oppenheimer,' a movie about J Robert Oppenheimer's work on the atomic bomb, is on target to gross $77 million over the course of the three-day weekend. The 52-year-old director's biopic surpasses 'John Wick: Chapter 4's $73.8 million to have the best-ever opening weekend for an R-rated movie and is Nolan's third-highest weekend overall.

'Barbie' and 'Oppenheimer' are on course to have the biggest opening weekend ever, with one movie earning over $100 million and another more than $50 million. 'Barbie' had the highest pre-sales of any Warner Brothers production ever with $22.3 million.

'Excitement is palpable in chatter surrounding Barbie'

The key is that instead of viewing this Nolan film as the adult drama it is, audiences are treating it as a comic book movie. Meanwhile, the highest-grossing movie theatre in the country AMC Burbank has been taken over by the Barbenheimer followers. RelishMix said of the online chatter for 'Barbie', "Excitement is palpable in chatter surrounding Barbie as Margot Robbie’s star power as a massive draw, with fans proclaiming, Anything with Margot Robbie.’ Ryan Gosling’s Ken has already claimed a fan-fave pedestal, and he’s not even out of the box yet — for the bold campiness of the film which is being embraced wholeheartedly, just as the iconic nostalgia evoked by Barbie and the surprisingly multifaceted narrative are being thoroughly appreciated as the film’s eclectic marketing strategy, which has connected fans."

The social media analytics company claims the following about 'Oppenheimer', "The drumbeat on Oppenheimer is thunderous with solid positive anticipation as fans are all in for the Nolan-Murphy combo, ‘Looks extraordinary, like a life-changing experience — something I don’t usually associate with films.’ There’s no denying expectations for Nolan’s newest venture is being proclaimed as his ‘magnum opus.’ The presence of Peaky Blinders’ Cillian Murphy, declared a ‘genius,’ only heightens the fervor. The chatter isn’t simply about watching a movie, it’s about witnessing what could be a “seminal moment in cinematic history."

Thanks to 'Oppenheimer' and 'Barbie,' a $300M domestic weekend box office haul for all films is still in the cards. It remains to be seen if it moves up to third place by Monday.