5 Reasons Barbenheimer Was A Bombshell Box Office Success
Without putting too fine a point on it, "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" made history at the box office this past weekend. Warner Bros. bet big on director Greta Gerwig with her adaptation of Mattel's beloved doll, while Universal went all-in on Christopher Nolan and his take on the man who gave us the A-bomb. Much was made of the fact that both films were due to square off right in the heart of the summer moviegoing season. Rather remarkably, both films did better than anyone could have expected on the same weekend.
"Barbie" topped the charts with an astounding $162 million domestic opening and $182 million internationally for a grand total of $344 million, per The Numbers. It is, by far, the biggest opening ever for a movie directed by a woman. Meanwhile, Nolan's "Oppenheimer" came in second with $82 million and $93.6 million internationally for a $175.6 million global debut. It's one of the biggest-ever openings for an R-rated film, and the biggest opening of Nolan's career for a movie that doesn't have Batman in it. There were no losers here.
So, what went right on "Barbenheimer" weekend? Just about everything, to put it simply. But for those who would like to dive a bit deeper into the why of it all, we're going to look at the five biggest reasons why this box office showdown became one of the biggest in cinema history. Let's dig in.
Both movies are very good
First and foremost, there is simply no substitution for quality. Both "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" have been met with rave reviews from both critics and audiences alike. As it stands, both films carry above 90% ratings from viewers and reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes, and both of them also carry an excellent A CinemaScore. You can read our 9 out of 10 review of "Barbie" here, as well as our 9.5 out of 10 review of "Oppehneimer" here. Both Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan delivered incredibly good movies that work for the vast majority of people who have seen them, and there is nothing quite like delivering on the hype. Had either movie fallen short of expectations, we might be having a different conversation.
A genuine groundswell of excitement
Anyone who has spent any amount of time online in recent months can almost certainly tell you that these movies took on a life of their own. In particular, the box office showdown that Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures ended up going through with. The "Barbenheimer" of it all really caught on, with tens of thousands of people planning double features, documenting their journeys on social media, and proudly supporting both films. It wasn't a matter of one versus the other, it was about finding a way to embrace both, by and large. It's the kind of thing that every studio in Hollywood is probably going to try and replicate in the years to come. But the truth of it is, this is the sort of thing that happened organically and simply can't be replicated. All of that online buzz undoubtedly raised both movies to heights well beyond what anyone expected. Online chatter often doesn't amount to real results. In this case, though, it was undoubtedly a significant factor.
Genuinely great marketing campaigns
Aside from the masses who live their lives online embracing the "Barbie" vs. "Oppenheimer" of it all, it should not be overlooked that both Warner Bros. and Universal, respectively, ran great marketing campaigns for both films. We had very intriguing trailers that sold the films for what they were, very good posters, and impactful press tours before the SAG-AFTRA strike effectively shut most of that down. "Barbie," in particular, ran one heck of a campaign that seemingly reached every sector of our very splintered media. That's no small thing these days. But the fact of the matter is that both movies had opening weekends large enough that this all had to extend well beyond the vocal minority on social media. Honest-to-goodness marketing actually got through to people all over the world. Maybe if we're lucky, as a result, we'll get away from boringly photoshopped floating head posters in the future, at the very least, for big summer blockbusters. A man can dream.
Counter-programming at its finest
I'll be the first to admit that, in the months leading up to the big weekend in question, I championed Universal moving "Oppenheimer" later in the year as it seemed like an obvious awards contender. More than anything, I believed both movies would suffer by dropping on the same weekend. I am very happy to have been wrong about that. And boy was I wrong! This proved to be the biggest overall weekend at the box office since "Avengers: Endgame" in 2019, which is truly remarkable. The biggest takeaway is that counter-programming, when done effectively, is arguably the most necessary tool in ensuring a healthy box office recovery in the coming years. It doesn't just have to be 52 weeks per year, 52 big movies. There can and should be room for more, it just comes down to studios being smart about it.
This is an extreme example, but it should signal to Hollywood at large that moviegoers will come out for the right movies regardless of competition. People want to see what they want to see, simple as that. A record-breaking number of people saw both "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer," and yeah, quite a few people saw both. It's wildly encouraging and, hopefully, not the last time we see something like it.
Offering audiences something outside the norm
Maybe more than anything, both of these movies demonstrated that audiences are hungry for something a bit different than the typical blockbuster fare we've been getting for quite some time. There's a reason that "Barbie" made more in a single weekend than "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" has made in several weeks. Just because a franchise has been around for a while doesn't mean we always need more of it. Yes, "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" is one of the biggest hits of the year — let's not ignore that — but that's also a movie about endings more than anything else. Superhero movies such as "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" and "The Flash" that tried to set up stuff for the future? That didn't pan out very well.
Similarly, "Oppenheimer" let one of cinema's most beloved blockbuster filmmakers do his thing without being anchored to IP and, wouldn't you know it, audiences turned up. Granted, "Barbie" is based on a globally recognized brand and Nolan made a biopic about a very famous historical figure, so these aren't exactly "original" films. Be that as it may, the big takeaway here is that studios need to move beyond focusing so much on sequels and reboots as big summer blockbusters. Audiences are ready for something different, so Hollywood needs to give them different.