'Barbie' Records Biggest Weekend Opening For A Female Director

Greta Gerwig has now made history as the first female director to have the biggest weekend opening at the box office. Gerwig's Barbie, which was released on July 21, is grabbing headlines for its satirical take on patriarchy.

Barbie is Greta Gerwig's fourth directorial project. The film was released alongside another much-anticipated flick, Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer.  

Greta Gerwig's Barbie Sets Box Office Opening Record

While Barbie has made $377 million, Oppenheimer has collected $174 million making the 'Barbenheimer' the biggest weekend hit of 2023 so far. This makes the Margot Robbie-Ryan Gosling starrer one of the biggest box-office grosser in recent times.

Babernheimer is a term fueled by social media's cinema enthusiasts excited for the year's biggest hits which are not just hits but have spun box office records and brought back people to theatres after the pandemic globally. These two films have outperformed all the releases of this year doing wonders at the box office.

In the North American box office scores, Warner Bros Barbie collected $155 Million in ticket sales out of 4,243 locations across, surpassing all the big hits of the years and Marvel releases and The Super Mario. Barbie broke the weekend opener record by female director outshining Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman. 

While Nolan's Oppenheimer also hiked the scored bursting charts as well crossing higher than even expectations by collecting $80.5 million with release across 3610 theatres making it Nolan's biggest Non-Batman release to sour high. 

Barbenheimer weekend is the first time that big releases clash on the same weekend and collect $100 million and $80 million after same-day release. The Barbenheimer release has affected Tom Cruise Mission Impossible: Deda Reckoning Part I which was doing a good business in its first week but lost its screen to IMAX shows to Nolan's Oppenheimer. 

Women rowed the boat to create a historic moment for Greta Gerwig's success in the movie Barbie by being 65% of the total audience, while 40% of tickets were purchased by youngsters under the age of 25. Oppenheimer had 62% of male ticket purchasers while 63% of the audience was of age under 25. 

While Barbie is rated for 13 years and above, Oppenheimer is an R-rated film with a release ban in Japan. While Barbie has been smashing all records surpassing Nolan's Magnum Opus Oppenheimer, Indian box office charts had some different views as Barbie has collected Rs 11.5 crore in theatres and Oppenheimer collected Rs 31.5 crore across Indian box offices until Saturday. 

Suggested Reading: Greta Gerwig’s Barbie Film Is A ‘Feminist Bimbo’ Classic