Early box office projections for Barbie and Oppenheimer put Barbie at earning $70 million or $80 million in its opening weekend. This is double the projected box office for Oppenheimer, which is expected to make around $40 million when it opens. Both films have massive budgets of around $145 million and $185 million respectively, though, even if Oppenheimer doesn’t outperform Barbie, they’re both likely to turn a profit by the end of their theatrical runs. However, it appears that the hype around both films have increased quite a bit as the scale of the competition has skyrocketed. New box office projections have shown an increase in the opening numbers of both Barbenheimer, so who’s winning?
Barbie vs Oppenheimer Box Office Battle: Who Is Winning?
The biggest box office battle of 2023 is here as Oppenheimer and Barbie are releasing on the same day. Christopher Nolan’s magnum opus and Greta Gerwig’s summer blockbuster. The box office battle has been named “Barbenheimer“. So, who is ahead in this race right now? Well, it was always going to be Barbie. Given the kind of movie (PG-13) plus the Barbie IP. Oppenheimer belongs to no IP except for Christopher Nolan’s stature. While the winner of the race hasn’t changed but the scale of it definitely has.
A new report from Deadline give us new box office projections for Barbenheimer. The latest projections put Barbie at anywhere between $90 million to $125 million in its opening weekend, while Oppenheimer is also expected to open bigger at $50 million domestic. The first worldwide projections were also released with Barbie bringing in $165 million and Oppenheimer opening at an even $100 million worldwide. Combined, both the films are going to take the box office by storm with $260 million merged opening worldwide, which is on the lower end of the projections.
The battle between Barbie and Oppenheimer is actually helping both the films immensely. The “Barbenheimer” madness has resulted in memes, fan art, T-shirts, etc., giving a huge push to their box office potential. In fact, AMC says they have sold more than 40,000 tickets for Barbie and Oppenheimer double features.
The story of Oppenheimer is adapted from Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer will be the first film to be shot in B/W and IMAX. The film is made on a hefty budget of $185 Million. The film basically has half of Hollywood in it including Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Rami Malek, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid, Matthew Modine, Alden Ehrenreich, David Krumholtz, Kenneth Branagh, Gary Oldman, Casey Affleck, Michael Angarano and without a doubt Michael Caine.
Barbie’s script has been co-written with Greta Gerwig and her partner Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story, Frances Ha, White Noise). Margot Robbie will star in the titular role with Ryan Gosling playing Ken, Barbie’s male counterpart. The rest of the cast includes, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Issa Rae, Ncuti Gatwa, Alexandra Shipp, Ariana Greenblatt, Sharon Rooney, Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackay and Hari Nef.
Barbenheimer are set to release in theatres near you on 21st July 2023.
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