'Barbenheimer' weekend delivers box office windfall, topping $235 million
"Barbenheimer" brought in a record-breaking showing at the box office this past weekend.
Warner Bros.' "Barbie" (WBD) and Universal's "Oppenheimer" (CMCSA) nabbed a collective $235 million-plus at the domestic box office — far outpacing both studio and industry expectations. "Barbie" accounted for $155 million of the three-day haul while "Oppenheimer" brought in $80.5 million total, according to studio estimates.
It was the fourth-biggest overall weekend in box office history as "Barbie" nabbed the best opener of 2023, surpassing Universal's "Super Mario Bros. Movie."
The Greta Gerwig-directed blockbuster, backed by both Mattel (MAT) and Warner Bros., collected another $182 million from 69 overseas markets, bringing its global total to $337 million. "Oppenheimer" brought in another $93.7 million from 78 international territories, resulting in a $174.2 million global haul.
Mattel saw shares climb roughly 1.5% in early trading on Monday while Warner Bros. Discovery stock rose in the premarket but dropped about 2% at the open. Comcast, the parent company of Universal, was up about 1%.
Theater chains rose on the news as AMC said more than 7.8 million moviegoers attended an AMC-operated theater over the weekend. The company posted the best single-day attendance since July 2019 on Saturday while food and beverage revenue hit its second-highest daily total ever.
Similarly, Cinemark (CNK) revealed the weekend is tracking to be the exhibitor’s best summer weekend of all time, as well as one of the highest-grossing box office weekends in its history.
"It feels like the pinnacle of the year so far — especially after a summer where we've seen a lot of franchise sequels miss expectations by varying degrees," Box Office Pro chief analyst Shawn Robbins told Yahoo Finance, stressing the pop culture "zeitgeist" both films have managed to create — particularly with "Barbie," which has relied on a heavy marketing push to drum up anticipation.
Films like Disney's "Elemental" and Warner Bros.' "The Flash" struggled to secure ticket sales earlier this summer, while the hyped-up live-action "Little Mermaid" fell short of expectations.
"We're in a time now where people are a little bit more selective with what they're choosing to spend their money on," Robbins said.
Robbins said many of the laggards this year, such as "Indiana Jones," had been out of the public consciousness for years while there has also been oversaturation in the market when it comes to franchises.
According to box office analytics platform EntTelligence, "Barbenheimer" pulled in approximately 18.5 million patrons this past weekend. Other than 2021's "Spider-Man: No Way Home," which saw 20 million patrons, this is the most foot traffic EntTelligence has monitored for a three-day opening film or combination of films in its history.
"Barbie" accounted for 12.8 million patrons, the highest non-Marvel film opening, compared to 5.8 million for "Oppenheimer", which was the highest number of attendees for an R-rated opening.
The average ticket price of "Barbie" came in at $12.57 versus $13.65 for "Oppenheimer" due to the latter's higher number of premium screen showings.
As expected, "Barbie" appealed more to women than men, with 71% of its opening weekend audience identifying as female compared to 29% identifying as men. The audience for "Oppenheimer" was 58% male versus 42% female.
Still, the box office is not out of the woods yet, with this weekend marking the last big debut of the summer as the double strike in Hollywood casts a shadow on the future.
SAG-AFTRA — the union that represents approximately 160,000 actors, announcers, recording artists, and other media professionals around the world — joined writers on the picket lines last week after the guild failed to negotiate a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), which bargains on behalf of studios including Disney (DIS), Netflix (NFLX), Amazon (AMZN), Apple (AAPL), and NBCUniversal.
In a report released earlier this week, Moody's predicted "a relatively long strike" which would hit movie theater companies such as AMC and Cineworld (CINE.L) first, followed by diversified media companies with both streaming and linear television businesses.
"If there is a protracted strike, cinema operators are most at risk with their nearly complete dependency on new product," Moody's said. "Theatrical exhibitors are already strained from damage caused by the COVID pandemic such as lighter release schedules that followed and shortened distribution windowing. They also have mostly weaker balance sheets and credit ratings."
Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.
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