KC7

I first read this: "Both can pull $40M day," as they could each make $40M today and my heart stopped. 😅

https://deadline.com/2023/07/box-office-barbie-oppenheimer-barbenheimer-1235443828/ Monday AM: Warner Bros/Mattel’s Barbie is coming in $6M higher than expected with $162M after a beautiful Sunday of $43.7M, -9% from Saturday. As we told you, that’s the best opening stateside for a movie from a female filmmaker, that being Oscar nominee Greta Gerwig. Universal’s Oppenheimer is also higher with a $23.16M Sunday, -12% off from Saturday, sending the Christopher Nolan directed pic to $82.4M. Those are remarkable Sunday holds and the head spins thinking of the second weekend hold here. Disney’s Haunted Mansion in industry estimates (not studio) was buzzed to be around $30M. It’s clear that the second feature take of the theme park ride is going to have a hard time notching No. 2, however, it’s a spectacular marketplace. All of this is a reminder is that it took a consistent supply of movies, which spurs moviegoer demand to get theatrical back on track post Covid. Granted streaming is the headache for many writers and actors, however, if AMPTP and the guilds don’t agree to a contract soon, the 2023 and 2024 theatrical schedule could get significantly damaged. As one exec said to me yesterday about the feared box office forecast, “It’s the car accident, one exit up.” Maybe this means we make less streaming movies and more theatrical. Not only are people showing their interest in the cinema, but the theatrical downstream pie is better for all parties involved, no? Comscore reported $301.6M for the weekend yesterday, however that figure has to be around $308.6M given the extra $8M for Barbenheimer. That would be it’s still fourth biggest domestic weekend of all-time.

The problem is that they're not showing Ms. Marvel on ABC in the fall. They're burning it off on two Saturdays in August, which makes no sense if they truly want to promote the character. https://abc.com/news/insider/watch-ms-marvel-disney-plus-original-series-on-abc-all-episodes-streaming-now-on-disney-plus

‘Barbie’ & ‘Oppenheimer’: A Rundown Of All The Box Office Records Broken

https://variety.com/2023/film/box-office/box-office-barbie-oppenheimer-opening-weekend-shatter-records-1235677601/

https://deadline.com/2023/07/box-office-barbie-oppenheimer-barbenheimer-1235443828/ Sunday AM writethru after Saturday PM: update If you weren’t at Barbie or Oppenheimer, or both movies this weekend, consider yourself square. Updated figures this AM show Warner Bros.’ new franchise based on the Mattel doll at $48.1M (-32% from Friday/previews), for what is shaping up to still be a $155M start; the biggest opening of 2023. Others believe in their bones this Greta Gerwing directed, Margot Robbie-Ryan Gosling combo is destined for $160M. Warners isn’t a studio to get over their skis in estimates. Meanwhile, Oppenheimer might be about a bomb, but it’s certainly not a bomb in the box office sense of the word with the Universal Christopher Nolan directed movie eyed $25.8M on Saturday, -22% from Friday night/previews of $33M for what’s shaping up to be an awesome $80M opening. These figures were as of last night; we’ll let you know when Universal has AM updates. As we spotted on Thursday night, Oppenheimer looked like it was going to emulate the box office trajectory of the R-rated X-Men title, Logan. That pic’s first day/previews was also $33M, however had a $31.3M Saturday for what turned out to be an $88.4M opening. Point is, audiences are approaching this Nolan movie like a comic-book movie, not the adult drama that it is. In fact both movies’ fervent fans are owning it in their cinema attire, dressing up like the characters in Barbie and Oppenheimer. Barbie cost a net of $128M before P&A, while Oppenheimer cost around $100M. Box Office metrics company EntTelligence reports that four out of five moviegoers went to see Barbie or Oppenheimer this weekend with the former generating 52% of the overall admission traffic, Oppenheimer repping 27%, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning drawing 6.5% and Sound of Freedom pulling in 5.6%. For those who didn’t do their box office homework, we’ve had a late July Christopher Nolan pic vs. female demo tentpole face-off before back in 2008; in fact it was a Warner Bros-Universal fight as well. However, Nolan was in the No. 1 spot. That battle was Dark Knight ($158.4M opening) versus Mamma Mia! ($27.7M). Arguments could be made that Barbie raised Oppenheimer‘s boat, however, that loss of Imax screens has Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning taking a second weekend hit of -65% with $19M, and running total of $118.2M. Sequel’s second Saturday business of $7.5M was up over Friday’s $5.5M by +35%.

370 pages!

The Magician's Nephew was always my favorite. I loved the dying Charn and the Wood Between the Worlds.

Deadline's projections still seem low. https://deadline.com/2023/07/box-office-barbie-oppenheimer-barbenheimer-1235443828/ Saturday AM: Refresh for more analysis and chart…At a time when Hollywood fears that the Q3 and Q4 2023 release schedule will fall apart due to the dual SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, the motion picture industry is reaping one of the biggest domestic box office weekends on record with Warner Bros.’ Barbie and Universal’s Oppenheimer lighting up an estimated $308M+ overall three-day. That’s the biggest weekend post pandemic easily burying the weekend when Spider-Man: No Way Home opened over Dec. 17-19, 2021 and all pics tottaled $282.9M. Per Comscore, this weekend will be the fourth biggest of all-time after Avengers: Endgame frame (April 26-28, 2019; $402M), Avengers: Infinity War‘s weekend (April 27-29, 2018; $314.8M) and the weekend when Star Wars: Force Awakens debuted (all pics over Dec. 18-20, 2015 grossing $313.2M). Barbie has a lot of bragging rights beyond owning a dream house: Warners says $150M+ still for Barbie, but industry calculations believe it’s well over $161M, any way you cut it, it’s the biggest opening weekend of 2023 to date after an opening day of $70.5M. Oppenheimer is eyeing $77M after a $33M opening day — just mindblowing that a 3-hour adult drama could emulate what’s akin to a superhero movie in its first installment. It’s a testament to the fan power of Christopher Nolan, which he accumulated from his Dark Knight days, the 18-34 bunch here still strong at 59%. Both movies get solid A CinemaScores. Note, whatever the industry is calling safely here this morning could payout like a broken slot machine by tonight: Whenever there’s heat on a movie, it just keeps going up and up and up at the box office. One distrib points out that never before in the history of box office has a weekend seen one movie open to $100M+ and a second to $50M+.

In this article (which contains a minor spoiler about a cameo), she seems excited for it: "There’s a tone and a humor and a joy, and obviously the world is so beautiful," Gerwig said. "I want to go back to Barbie Land." She may or may not have to wait for long for her return. Gerwig added that she hopes the movie, in theaters Friday July 21, "is the launch of a world and a bunch of different Barbie movies."

It's on the last page.

The issue is, they're using Twilight as their comparison, thinking they're similarly female-skewing, and those movies did make half of their weekend gross on Friday. Twilight: $35.987M Friday; $69.6M 1st weekend Breaking Dawn 2: $71.1M Friday; $141M 1st weekend But those were books that had diehard fans, and not a infinite number, so of course they were frontloaded. They're ignoring that Barbie has a wider potential audience, especially with its reviews. At least in my area, the theaters are close to sold out all weekend so there's no sign its going to burn through half of its audience on the first day.

https://deadline.com/2023/07/box-office-barbie-oppenheimer-barbenheimer-1235443828/ Friday Miday: Warner Bros.’ Barbie is eyeing $68M-70M today, including last night’s previews, for what’s shaping up to be the best opening of the year with $150M at 4,243 theaters. That would beat the 3-day of Super Mario Bros‘ $146.3M. Some rivals see higher like $165M-$170M but it’s still early and everyone is getting excited. Remember, female skewing movies are very front-loaded (remember a movie called Twilight?). Universal’s Oppenheimer is certainly not getting scraps: It’s headed for $32M today, including previews, and a $75M 3-day at 3,610 theaters. That’s higher than Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny‘s $60.3M start. Wow. Do your math, the two titles are fueling $225M alone this weekend. So far, Paramount’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning despite shedding Imax, isn’t taking a horrible hit, -54% in weekend 2 with $25M with a $124.2M running total. Friday is looking like $6.6M. Angel Studios’ Sound of Freedom at 3,285 is resilient as well with an amazing $20M, -26%, weekend 3 and running total of $124.4M. Disney’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is fifth with an estimated fourth weekend of $7M, -43% and running cume by Sunday of $159.3M.

If Nolan's really that much of a baby, then he needs to blame Universal for scheduling his movie on a weekend after another studio had already called it.

To be fair, Warner Bros had a movie dated for this weekend before Universal bought Oppenheimer. It was originally supposed to be Coyote vs. Acme, which announced for this date in December 2020. It was almost a year later, when Universal bought it, that they scheduled Oppenheimer on the date, since it's "reserved" for Nolan. Six months later, WB replaced Coyote vs Acme, which clearly isn't ready, with Barbie. It makes perfect sense for them between what was expected to be their big June release (The Flash) and their big August one (Meg 2), and has the same wide audience appeal as the movie they originally had scheduled. I don't think there's necessarily anything malicious or nefarious about slotting a movie targeting a completely different audience. This isn't a Disney rereleasing The Little Mermaid opposite Anastasia situation.

‘Barbie’ Has Best Ticket Presales Since ‘Avatar: The Way Of Water’

Same for the Wall Street Journal. They're both right-wing rags peddling Rupert Murdoch's worldview (and Kyle Smith is a notably conservative critic who previously wrote for, yes, the Post). Both papers panning the movie is entirely on brand.

Three and a half stars from USA Today: 'Barbie' review: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling dazzle in hilariously heady toy story Three and a half stars from RogerEbert.com https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/barbie-movie-review-2023 Collider: 'Barbie' Review: Greta Gerwig’s World of Plastic Is Fantastic Starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, Greta Gerwig turns 'Barbie' into much more than just a toy commercial. A- from Entertainment Weekly Barbie review: Welcome to Greta Gerwig's fiercely funny, feminist Dreamhouse The Barbie movie could’ve been another forgettable, IP-driven cash grab. Instead, the director of Little Women and Lady Bird has crafted a neon pink delight.

A- from the AV Club Barbie review: A pink, plucky, and poignant rumination on womanhood Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling play iconic Mattel dolls facing an existential crisis in Greta Gerwig's terrific high-concept comedy

Daily Beast: ‘Barbie’ Review: Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, and Ryan Gosling Made an Instantly Timeless Masterpiece FANTASTIC After what feels like an eternity of waiting, “Barbie” has arrived—and in a moving, hilarious, nearly perfect package to boot. The Wrap: ‘Barbie’ Review: Greta Gerwig Delivers a Fierce Feminist Statement Dressed in Pink

NY Times:‘Barbie’ Review: Out of the Box and On the RoadShe’s in the driver’s seat, headed for uncharted territory (flat feet!). But there are limits to how much dimension even Greta Gerwig can give this branded material. "Like “Air,” Ben Affleck’s recent movie about how Nike signed Michael Jordan, as well as other entertainments tethered to their consumer subjects, “Barbie” can only push so hard. These movies can’t damage the goods, though I’m not sure most viewers would want that; our brands, ourselves, after all. That said, Gerwig does much within the material’s inherently commercial parameters, though it isn’t until the finale — capped by a sharply funny, philosophically expansive last line — that you see the “Barbie” that could have been. Gerwig’s talents are one of this movie’s pleasures, and I expect that they’ll be wholly on display in her next one — I just hope that this time it will be a house of her own wildest dreams."

Deadline: ‘Barbie’ Review: Greta Gerwig Strikes The Balance Between Comedy, Commentary & Camp Variety: ‘Barbie’ Review: Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling Compete for Control of High-Concept Living Doll ComedyGreta Gerwig loads plenty of food for thought in a hot pink pop fantasia, poking fun at patriarchy and corporate parent Mattel in her treatment of the iconic “girls can do anything” doll. Hollywood Reporter: ‘Barbie’ Review: Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in Doll Comedy From Greta Gerwig That Delivers the Fun but Fudges the Politics

Rolling Stone: ‘Barbie’ May Be the Most Subversive Blockbuster of the 21st CenturyIt’s a long commercial for a legacy corporate brand and a pretty-in-pink f*ck you to the patriarchy. It is Barbie — hear it roar