The toy-based comedy is predicted to gross $100 million, while the biographical will gross half that amount. Despite a difficult year for films, the rivalry appears to be attracting moviegoers.
It’s a classic clash on par with Ali vs. Frazier, the Hatfields vs. the McCoys, and Athens vs. Sparta.
Let’s not get too carried away.
But, with Barbie vs. Oppenheimer, Hollywood hasn’t captivated the common imagination in this way in a long time. After weeks of online meme-ification and dubious marketing tie-ins, the two vastly disparate Hollywood mega movies hit theatres on Thursday night. (We’re looking at you, Barbie-inspired Burger King burger with chewed bubble gum on top.) According to box office forecasters, the films might produce the largest audiences at North American multiplexes in four years, amounts not seen since before the epidemic.
Barbie and Oppenheimer are basically the perfect frenemies at the box office this weekend, Turner Classic Movies presenter Dave Karger remarked. They are technically competitors, but they are primarily aimed at different audiences, and the Barbenheimer hype appears to be benefiting both films.
Barbie’ Heads for $100 Million Breakout, ‘Oppenheimer’ Aims for Strong $50 Million
According to analysts who track audience interest and use complex formulas to forecast box office performance, Greta Gerwig’s candy-coated “Barbie,” which went for an estimated $145 million to make. Not including marketing costs. Has the possibility to earn $100 million in the United States and Canada through Sunday. Over the same time frame, domestic ticket sales for Christopher Nolan’s hefty “Oppenheimer,” which cost at least $100 million before marketing, are expected to be about $50 million.
Warner Bros. estimated that weekend ticket sales for “Barbie” would be closer to $75 million, citing presales of around $30 million. (Studios do everything they can to minimise expectations.) The PG-13 comedy has been scheduled for about 4,200 screens in North America by the studio.
Universal Pictures, the company behind the R-rated historical film “Oppenheimer,” about the creation of the atomic bomb, declined to comment. It will release Nolan’s picture on around 3,600 domestic screens.
AMC Entertainment, announced that over 40,000 people booked tickets to watch “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer”
Barbie runs for slightly under two hours. Oppenheimer spans three screens, restricting the amount of screenings that theatres may fit within a weekend. Oppenheimer, on the other hand, has the advantage of playing on the majority of North America’s large-format screens, which have a ticket fee of up to $12 in New York. For the next three weeks, IMAX will devote its entire footprint to Nolan’s masterpiece (much to the dismay of Tom Cruise, who thought his “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” would continue to play on part of those screens when it opened last week).
AMC Entertainment, the world’s largest movie theatre chain, announced on Monday that over 40,000 people had booked tickets to watch “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” as a double feature, up from 20,000 the previous week.