Summer Movie Box Office Stats: ‘Barbie’ VS ‘Oppenheimer’ Rages On

As the Barbenheimer phenomenon continues, not many people are watching Christopher Nolan’s thriller as the new Barbie movie; and Tom Cruise’s latest flick finds the mission impossible to live up to the first weekend.

The Greta Gerwig – directed movie earned a 90% critic and audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, as well as an ‘A’ score on CinemaScore, which polls audiences.

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer scored a 94% critic and audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, with an ‘A’ on CinemaScore.

Barbie Review: Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ is a Surprisingly Meaningful Masterpiece

Following its remarkable performance on Thursday with the highest preview ticket sales of the year, Barbie continued to excel on Friday, amassing an additional $48.2 million from 4,243 theaters.

This culminated in a total of $70.5 million, making it the most impressive opening day of the year, surpassing Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which had earned $51.8 million in June.

New figures for Barbie show the film earned $45M on 22nd June, a 36% drop from Friday/previews. According to box office analysts, the film is shaping up to a $150M opening at the box office.

If accurate, this would be the biggest box office opening of 2023. However, some believe it may outperform to earn $155M-160M over the course of the weekend.

Oppenheimer, shown in 3,610 venues, achieved a remarkable opening day, generating a total of $33 million, which comprises $10.5 million from Thursday previews.

It earned $25.8M on 22nd June, a 22% drop from Friday/previews. It is still tracking to earn an $80M opening, nearly half of Barbie‘s collection.

After just eight and a half days in theaters, Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One lost its IMAX screens to Oppenheimer.

Without the advantage of premium ticket prices, the sequel is expected to experience a significant 62% decline in its second weekend, with projected earnings of $21M.

It might lose third place to Angel Studios’ Sound of Freedom, which is going strong. The Tom Cruise-led film has amassed over $273M worldwide as of 22nd June.