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# A wildly successful weekend for ‘Barbenheimer’
- URL: https://www.theomnicosm.com/the-box-office-report-a-wildly-successful/
- Published: 2023-07-24T11:00:40.000Z
- Updated: 2024-01-19T16:10:37.000Z
- Description: ‘Barbie’ has 2023’s biggest debut while ‘Oppenheimer’ scores Nolan’s largest non-Batman weekend.
- Author: Bill Kuchman
- Tags: Popculturology • The Box Office Report, Popculturology, Barbie, Oppenheimer

Hello! Welcome to **The** **Box Office Report** for the weekend of July 21-23, 2023.

## 1\. Barbie

**Weekend gross:* $155M* 
**Total domestic gross:* $155M* 
**Last weekend:* New release* 
**Percent drop:* NA*

*Barbenheimer* weekend blew away expectations. The duo grossed an estimated $235.5 million together. While the *Barbenheimer* concept may have begun as a joke or a gimmick, it wound up fueling each film’s debut way past projections.

*Barbie*’s $155 million weekend is the biggest opener for 2023, with **Greta Gerwig**’s film topping *The Super Mario Bros. Movie*’s $146.4 million debut.

The film also set career best opening marks for **Margot Robbie**, **Ryan Gosling** and Gerwig. Robbie’s previous biggest opening weekend was the $133.7 million grossed by the original *Suicide Squad* movie in 2016, Gosling’s previous biggest opening weekend was the $32.8 million grossed by *Blade Runner 2049* in 2017, and Gerwig’s previous biggest opening weekend as a director was the $16.8 million grossed by *Little Women* in 2019.

Does Warner Bros. have a new franchise on its hands? Gerwig is going to be busy working on Netflix’s *Narnia* adaptions for a bit.

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## 2\. Oppenheimer

**Weekend gross:* $80.5M* 
**Total domestic gross:* $80.5M* 
**Last weekend:* New release* 
**Percent drop:* NA*

*Oppenheimer*’s opening weekend was probably more of a surprise than the massive haul brought in by *Barbie*. In early June, [*Oppenheimer*](https://twitter.com/mattbelloni/status/1667179599342493696?s=10&t=v0TRLQgJ-EiPhUe6VCMm8A&ref=theomnicosm.com)[ was tracking for somewhere in the $30 million to $35 million range](https://twitter.com/mattbelloni/status/1667179599342493696?s=10&t=v0TRLQgJ-EiPhUe6VCMm8A&ref=theomnicosm.com), which would’ve made **Christopher Nolan**’s latest a flop. Getting swept into the *Barbenheimer* craze (along with positive reviews) turned *Oppenheimer* into the biggest non-*Batman* debut of Nolan’s career.

Before *Oppenheimer*, *Inception*’s $62.8 million debut was the largest opening weekend for Nolan after *The Dark Knight Rises*’ $158.4 million and *The Dark Knight*’s $158.4 million.

## 3\. Sound of Freedom

**Weekend gross:* $20.1M* 
**Total domestic gross:* $124.7M* 
**Last weekend:* 2nd* 
**Percent drop:* 26*

[Something’s fishy about this one …](https://www.dailydot.com/debug/sound-of-freedom-amc-ticket-sales/?ref=theomnicosm.com)

♥️

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## 4\. Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One

**Weekend gross:* $19.5M* 
**Total domestic gross:* $118.8M* 
**Last weekend:* 1st* 
**Percent drop:* 64*

Losing the premium large format screens like IMAX and Dolby to *Oppenheimer* wrecked *Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One*’s second weekend. Maybe **Tom Cruise** should buy up a bunch of tickets to inflate the numbers like some *other* movie.

## 5\. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny

**Weekend gross:* $6.7M* 
**Total domestic gross:* $159M* 
**Last weekend:* 4th* 
**Percent drop:* 45*

While *Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny* is still the lowest grossing *Indiana Jones* movie in the domestic rankings (still trailing *Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom*’s $178.9 million from 1984!), the final *Indiana Jones* movie has ticked by *Temple of Doom* in the worldwide rankings ($335 million to $333.1 million).

*Box office numbers via* [*The Numbers*](http://www.the-numbers.com/?ref=theomnicosm.com) *based on Sunday estimates.*

## Next weekend

I don’t see Disney’s *Haunted Mansion* reboot topping either *Barbie* or *Oppenheimer*. *Barbenheimer* is going to still be going strong next weekend. (I’m seeing *Oppenheimer* at an IMAX. Sorry, Tom Cruise.)

That’s the end of this edition of ****Popculturology**. Thanks for reading the newsletter. If you already are a subscriber, ****please consider becoming a supporter** by [upgrading your account](https://www.theomnicosm.com/#/portal/).