Barbenheimer Opening Weekend Is Set To Make Box Office History On Multiple Fronts

Calling this movie premiere weekend "highly anticipated" is both clichéd and accurate. The twin premieres of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" drew huge crowds to air-conditioned theaters in the sweltering heat, with many theater-goers opting for a five-hour double feature combining the two very different films. The blockbuster weekend, dubbed "Barbenheimer" by some media outlets, appears to be delivering on months of hype and marketing, with both films generating huge numbers in their first few days after release. According to The Hollywood Reporter, "Barbie" brought in more than $70 million on opening night and upwards of $155 million for the weekend, the best opening weekend ever for a film helmed by a solo female director (Greta Gerwig). 

The opening weekend figure posted by "Barbie" also dwarfs those of the year's top-earning films so far: "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" ($146.3 million), "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" ($120.7 million), "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" ($118.4 million), and "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" ($106.9 million). "Oppenheimer" brought in $33 million on Friday and is projected to earn $77 million for the weekend, which would make it the third highest-grossing biopic opening ever behind "American Sniper" and "The Passion of the Christ."

"Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" appear to be benefitting from their simultaneous release dates. This marks the first time in history that two movies released on the same weekend have earned more than $100 and $50 million each, and a survey of National Association of Theater Owners members revealed that 200,000 Americans bought tickets for both films this weekend. 

Both "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" have immediately become popular and critical darlings. On Rotten Tomatoes, "Barbie" has identical 90% ratings from fans and critics, while "Oppenheimer" has scored slightly better from both groups, earning a 93% from critics and a 94% from fans. 

Valerie Complex of Deadline praised "Barbie" writer and director Greta Gerwig for deftly weaving lessons about identity and empowerment into an entertaining bit of campy fun. "'Barbie' recognizes its own surreal existence: a world where perfect plastic figures wrestle with humanistic imperfections," she wrote. "It acknowledges that change, even when challenging, is necessary and that perfection is an unrealistic and even undesirable goal."

Comparing the reviews for "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" brings home just how vastly different these two films are. Where "Barbie" stretches to bring a significant message to a lighthearted subject, the gravity of the subject matter in "Oppenheimer" is evident and there is zero attempt made to bring levity to it. 

Hector Gonzalez of The Movie Buff praised Cillian Murphy's performance in the title role, but pointed out that writer and director Christopher Nolan may have leaned too heavily on the use of visual storytelling at the expense of a carefully written screenplay. "You feel like you are going through the same emotions as the main character," he wrote. "These aforementioned emotions are felt mostly through visionary language rather than by the script itself... You are moved more by the visuals and facial expressions than the dialogue itself."