Box Office: ‘Barbie’ Heads for $100 Million Breakout, ‘Oppenheimer’ Aims for Strong $50 Million

Greta Gerwig is making history! Three weeks after its debut in theaters, Barbie has surpassed $1 billion at the box office, making Gerwig the first female director to hit this box office milestone as a solo director.In a statement, Warner Bros. said the fantasy-comedy movie has taken in $459 million from domestic theaters — counting the United States and Canada — and another $572.1 million overseas since it hit theaters, for a total of $1.0315 billion.

Barbie has hit the $1billion dollar mark at the global box office, just two weeks after its release.Greta Gerwig‘s film is the 53rd movie of all time to hit the milestone, and the first ever to be solely directed by a woman.The dual release of Barbie and Oppenheimer on July 21 led to a sizeable uptick in UK box office numbers last month.On the films’ first weekend, Gerwig’s comedy brought in $110million (£86.6million) at the US box office, over twice the expected takings of Christopher Nolan’s biopic about the creator of the atomic bomb.Barbie is currently the third-highest grossing film of 2023, behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Barbie” towered over the box office for the third consecutive weekend, taking down newcomers “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” and “Meg 2: The Trench.” Grega Gerwig’s fantasy comedy added a remarkable $52 million in its third weekend of release, a decline of just 43% from its prior frame. “Barbie” has generated $459 million in North America and will imminently cross the $1 billion mark globally. Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” too, stayed strong in its third outing with $28.7 million, dropping only 39% from last weekend and bringing domestic ticket sales to $228 million.

As she heads into the third weekend of release, Warner Bros’ Barbie has hit two new milestones, crossing both $500M at the international box office and the nine-century mark worldwide. The Greta Gerwig-directed phenomenon added $16.8M from 69 offshore markets on Thursday, bringing the overseas total to $509.7M through yesterday. Globally, the doll is standing tall with $916.1M as she looks to rollerblade past $1B this weekend. 

call a halt to the “Barbenheimer” hashtag that has helped make the film a global blockbusters.“Barbie”, which stars Margot Robbie in the title role, has grossed more than $800 million in worldwide box office, while the film about nuclear scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer that opened around the same time last month has taken in more than $400 million.Warner Bros initially latched on to fan-produced memes that depicted Robbie’s Barbie with actor Cillian Murphy’s Oppenheimer alongside images of nuclear blasts.But fans were not amused in Japan, which in coming days will mark the memorials of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 78 years ago.“If one were to create an illustration or derivative art of Barbenheimer, it should not be of Barbie delighting in a mushroom cloud,” said Koji Maruyama on the Change.org website.

Warner Bros. Film Group is apologizing for their support of some insensitive “Barbenheimer” content.

The U.S. branch of Warner Bros. issued an apology after being called out by the Japan division for engaging with “insensitive” Barbenheimer tweets.

Oppenheimer.The Jewish comedian and writer suggested in a new interview that he isn’t totally on board with Murphy, an Irish actor who isn’t of Jewish descent, portraying “the father of the atomic bomb”.Tom Conti, who portrays the Jewish theoretical physicist Albert Einstein in the film, isn’t Jewish.“Authenticity casting I think of as an a priori thing that exists,” Baddiel told The Times.“Whatever the rights and wrongs of it, I can promise you that in this business – and I am in this business still – casting directors are now frightened to cast except in line with the minority they are casting. But they are not so worried about Jews.”Baddiel has previously spoken about non-Jewish actors playing Jewish characters in film and TV productions.In an opinion piece published in The Guardian last year, Baddiel discussed Maureen Lipman’s comments that Helen Mirren should not play former Israeli prime minister Golda Meir in the 2023 film Golda because she isn’t Jewish.Baddiel wrote at the time: “Casting a non-minority actor to mimic that identity feels, to the progressive eye, like impersonation, and impersonation may carry with it an element of mockery.”The real-life Oppenheimer was the child of two Jewish immigrants.

Barbenheimer memes that feature atom bomb images.The apology follows Warner Bros. Japan calling its US counterpart’s behaviour “extremely regrettable”, and also said sorry to fans on its behalf.The Barbenheimer craze, which has resulted in millions around the world watching the two blockbusters Barbie and Oppenheimer back-to-back in an ironic double bill dubbed “Barbenheimer”, has drawn criticism in Japan for making light of the mass destruction caused by the atomic Bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.The Barbie US Twitter account (@barbiethemovie) responded to one Barbenheimer fan art poster that depicts Margot Robbie’s Barbie sitting on the shoulders of Cillian Murphy’s J.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International The BBC’s “Oppenheimer” has finally landed on iPlayer. All seven episodes of the Sam Waterston-led drama series from 1980 is now available in full on the BBC streaming service. Until now, the BAFTA-winning and Emmy-nominated series was only available to rent or purchase on Prime Video.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Warner Bros. Japan released a statement on the country’s official “Barbie” Twitter account criticizing the studio’s U.S. branch for feeding into the “Barbenheimer” craze on social media.

The Barbenheimer hype continues.

The ‘Barbenheimer’ reign has no end in sight!

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Barbenheimer” fever continues to sweep the box office. After five days of release, the inextricably linked “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” have reached notable theatrical milestones, with ticket sales for Greta Gerwig’s fantasia romp crossing $200 million and Christopher Nolan’s somber, three-hour biopic “Oppenheimer” surpassing $100 million. “Barbie” added another $26 million on Tuesday, bringing its North American tally to $214.1 million.

Matchbox Twenty’s Rob Thomas has responded to one of his tracks being featured in the Barbie movie.The American singer-songwriter reflected on Matchbox Twenty’s song ‘Push’ being featured in the Greta Gerwig film, and confirmed that he was fine with the movie poking fun at the 1997 hit.The moment in film comes after Ken – played by Ryan Gosling – returns to the Barbie world after paying a visit to the human world and discovering the patriarchy. From there, he transforms the female-dominated Barbie world into a hyper-masculine “Kendom”, rife with everything associated with toxic masculinity.‘Push’ is then the song that he, as well as all the other Kens, serenade the Barbies with on the beach – with the rendition lasting for literal hours.While the moment is meant to poke fun at the ’90s band for being ‘the ultimate bro band’, as it turns out, the frontman is completely fine with his song being used as the butt of the joke.“I want to preface this by saying that I thought it was hilarious,” he said while speaking to USA Today, also referencing another time his band was used as a joke in a Hollywood blockbuster.

plot forward in “Barbie” — and Rob Thomas loves it.Matchbox Twenty’s frontman weighed in on the inclusion of 1996’s “Push” in the new “Barbie” movie — admitting he was worried at first about it being a joke, but has since recognized it’s a clever callout.Ken (Ryan Gosling) plays the track for hours on end on his guitar for Barbie (Margot Robbie) while sitting around a campfire.The scene (and song) is a pivotal point in the film, pushing an ego-bruised Ken to embrace toxic masculinity and take over Barbie Land — which Thomas praised as a perfect choice.“I want to preface this by saying that I thought it was hilarious. But in ‘Bring It On,’ [Kirsten Dunst’s character] has this douchey boyfriend.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Decades before Christopher Nolan set his sights on a movie about J. Robert Oppenheimer, a science-obsessed BBC executive ventured to America in 1979 to make a $1.5 million TV show about the father of the atom bomb. Peter Goodchild began his career at the BBC in radio drama, but eventually migrated to the storied “Horizon” science unit to put his chemistry degree to some use. The division began experimenting with factual dramas in the 1970s, and after delivering a hit series on French-Polish physicist Marie Curie, Goodchild set his sights on the New York-born Oppenheimer. “I’d seen a play on J. Robert Oppenheimer at the Hampstead Theatre Club way back in 1966,” the 83-year-old tells Variety from his home in Exeter, southwest England, where his Zoom background reveals a room teeming with books on heaving shelves.

Barbie is currently set to outpace Oppenheimer at the box office over the two films’ shared opening weekend.The films have been the subject of particular attention for coming out on the same day, with many people attempting to see both in the space of 24 hours.As things stand, Greta Gerwig’s comedy is set to bring in $110million (£86.6million) at the US box office this weekend, over twice the expected takings of Christopher Nolan’s biopic about the creator of the atomic bomb. Oppenheimer is expected to gross $50million (£38.8million).Barbie’s current takings mean it will break the record for the highest-opening film in the US by a female director. Wonder Woman previously held the title, bringing in £103million(£89.1million) in 2017.Warner Bros confirmed yesterday (July 21) that Barbie had earned $22.3million (£17.3million) in box office previews – the highest figure of any film this year.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The double SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes are worrying exhibitors in France, where the box office is driven by Hollywood blockbusters. In an interview with French news channel BFM Business, Richard Patry, who presides over the National Federation of Cinemas, predicts “the strike might go on for a long time” because it’s aimed at streaming services. “Many U.S. films have already started to be delayed, and it worries us a lot for 2024,” Patry said. The dearth of U.S. releases during the pandemic hurt the French box office, which was down by about 30% in 2022. Even if French movies have a large market share domestically, U.S. blockbusters typically drive an upward trend. Case in point: the French B.O. finally recovered this year and has been up 33%, bolstered by a spike in anticipated American movies, which skyrocketed from 29 in 2022 to 51 in the first five months of 2023, according to Comscore France. 

One of the most anticipated films of 2023 has landed in UK cinemas as masses of fans head to theatres for front row tickets. ~Starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, there's been a huge buzz around the Barbie movie ahead of its release.