After months of memes, marketing, and hype, anyone who thought the battle between Barbie and Oppenheimer would fail to deliver – which surely can’t have been many – and turn out to be a damp squib has been left with no other choice but to feast on a hefty slice of humble pie.
Incredibly, both movies are drastically out-performing expectations, with Barbie on course to dislodge The Super Mario Bros. Movie as the highest-grossing debutant of the year with a haul that could exceed $160 million by the time dust settles on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Oppenheimer is tracking for a three-day tally of at least $75 million. When you throw the unstoppable Sound of Freedom and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One into the mix, then the domestic box office is on course for its best-ever total since Avengers: Endgame decimated the competition in April of 2019.
In fact, should the Top 10’s cumulative gross end up north of $300 million – which is looking very likely when you consider Barbenheimer alone is well on the way to accruing at least 75 percent of that tally – then it’ll mark only the fourth time in history that the domestic Top 10 has ever exceeded that figure on a single weekend.
Of course, Endgame nabbed $357 million all on its lonesome four years ago, which arguably makes it even more impressive this time around when you consider two original non-franchise titles are leading the pack, with an acclaimed sequel and surprise smash hit sprinkled in for good measure.
After months of memes, marketing, and hype, anyone who thought the battle between Barbie and Oppenheimer would fail to deliver – which surely can’t have been many – and turn out to be a damp squib has been left with no other choice but to feast on a hefty slice of humble pie.
Incredibly, both movies are drastically out-performing expectations, with Barbie on course to dislodge The Super Mario Bros. Movie as the highest-grossing debutant of the year with a haul that could exceed $160 million by the time dust settles on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Oppenheimer is tracking for a three-day tally of at least $75 million. When you throw the unstoppable Sound of Freedom and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One into the mix, then the domestic box office is on course for its best-ever total since Avengers: Endgame decimated the competition in April of 2019.
In fact, should the Top 10’s cumulative gross end up north of $300 million – which is looking very likely when you consider Barbenheimer alone is well on the way to accruing at least 75 percent of that tally – then it’ll mark only the fourth time in history that the domestic Top 10 has ever exceeded that figure on a single weekend.
Of course, Endgame nabbed $357 million all on its lonesome four years ago, which arguably makes it even more impressive this time around when you consider two original non-franchise titles are leading the pack, with an acclaimed sequel and surprise smash hit sprinkled in for good measure.