I didn’t plan on writing a newsletter this week. Even though I was excited about both Barbie and Oppenheimer, I underestimated the demand for those movies. (Obviously, many people underestimated the demand). Barbie was tracking at a magnificent $80 million opening weekend, while Oppenheimer was tracking at $40 million.
Both of those movies shattered expectations.
Not only did both movies crush those large estimates from June, they completely annihilated them.
Barbie
whose closest comp for a female-directed movie with a female-led was Twilight or Wonder Woman, now holds the all-time biggest opening in that category. Its $162 million opening is absolutely humungous, and given the terrific advertising campaign, Warner Bros. Discovery has to be overjoyed. It’s also the biggest opening of 2023 (beating The Super Mario Bros. Movie).
–Largest Warner Bros. Advance Sales ever at $49.5M
–Largest Pre‐Shows of 2023 YTD besting the $17.5M apiece made by Ant‐Man & the Wasp, Quantumania, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.
–Largest Opening for a female-directed film stateside, outstripping Captain Marvel‘s $153.4M.
–Second-highest opening for a movie from a woman filmmaker, second to Captain Marvel‘s $456.6M global start (unadjusted for currency swings and inflation).
–Largest Opening Weekend for a Movie Based on a Toy (Prior: Transformers: Dark of the Moon ‐ $115.9m)
–Largest WB Non‐Sequel/Non‐DC Opening (Prior: It ‐ $123.4m)
—Barbie has already surpassed the lifetime grosses of many of other female-led movies, including Ocean’s 8 ($297.7M), Bird of Prey ($205.3M) and Little Women ($218.8M).
Oppenheimer
–Christopher Nolan’s third-highest-grossing opening weekend ever, both global and domestic, after The Dark Knight Rises ($249M, $161M ) and The Dark Knight ($198M, $158M).
–The biggest global day & date opening weekend ever for a biopic, out pegging Bohemian Rhapsody ($124M). Stateside, it’s the third-biggest start for a biopic after American Sniper ($89.2M) and Passion of the Christ ($83.8M).
–The biggest global opening for a drama since 2019, ahead of Creed III ($100.2M).
–The highest-grossing opening weekend for an R-rated film YTD, beating out John Wick: Chapter 4 ($73.8M).
–Biggest Imax opening for a Christopher Nolan movie and biggest Imax for a Universal title in U.S. and Canada, and biggest for July overall and 2023 YTD with $21.1M.
It was a huge weekend at movie theaters and likely won’t be repeated again anytime soon. There’s little doubt that the two movies benefitted from the Barbenheimer sensation— I imagine those who saw one was sold out, went to the other one first.
There aren’t many places to watch Christopher Nolan’s newest movie, Oppenheimer (A-), in the director’s preferred IMAX 70mm format. I’m lucky enough to live pretty close to one of those venues and ventured out on Friday morning to watch the 3-hour biopic of the “Father of the atomic bomb.” It’s a lot of movie for sure, but it absolutely moves. A lot of attention will be given to Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr., the men behind the two biggest roles in the movie, but this is a spectacularly acted movie from top to bottom. It’s definitely an ensemble piece as actors make a huge impression with limited screen time. I have a ton to talk about with this one and hopefully you’ll hear more of my thoughts on the podcast soon. If you don’t live near a IMAX 70mm or regular 70mm venue, it’s not a movie that has spectacular visuals that you’d miss out on. It’s more about the novelty of seeing something that big and how Nolan continues to push the cinematic experience. If you haven’t gotten tickets yet to one of those IMAX 70mm venues, I implore you to book them today.
What can be said about Barbie (A-) that hasn’t been said already? Even the worst reviews make it a must-see.
Barbie exceeded my expectations as I originally thought I’d seen many of the surprises offered in the movie in the numerous trailers and promotional materials. I’m happy to report there are plenty of secrets left in the final movie. It’s funny and heartwarming while hitting on nostalgia pretty heavily as well. A lot of people are championing the performance of Ryan Gosling as Ken and he’s absolutely terrific in the movie. One question I was asked when I left Barbie was who the movie is appropriate for. I did see children in my screening and it seemed like they were absolutely bored by the movie! It isn’t a movie that follows Barbie on her happy adventures, but rather Barbie learning that her idyllic world isn’t what the real world is like. I wouldn’t recommend it to any children under 10, but that’s my opinion! There are so many movies and toys already aimed at Barbie fans under 10 that this movie is more for adults who’ve played or seen their children play with Barbie toys at one point.
Here are some post-Barbie articles if you’d like to read them today:
America Ferrera Did That Epic Barbe Monologue “30 to 50 Times”
Greta Gerwig on the stunning success of Barbie and her unabashed love for Sly Stallone
One of my friends,
, collected articles written about both Oppenheimer and Barbie in a newsletter he shared today.I loved both movies for different reasons and both of them have entered my top five favorites of 2023. It was a great weekend to go to the movies and if you haven’t been to see either yet, there’s plenty of time to see two excellent movies.