Barbie vs Oppenheimer latest: Greta Gerwig explains Barbie’s ending after record-breaking box office debut

Gerwig broke the domestic box office record for female director with ‘Barbie’ debut

Barbie cast turn London Eye pink to celebrate film premiere

Greta Gerwig has broken the domestic box office record for a female director, with Barbie debuting at $155m in North America and $337m globally.

The film surpassed the $103.3m domestic opening of Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman and the $153m weekend opening of 2019’s Captain Marvel, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Cinemas around the world were busier than ever over the weekend, thanks to the simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer, with excitement for Gerwig and Christopher Nolan’s respective blockbusters going into overdrive.

While Oppenheimer’s critical ratings have blown past Barbie with a near-perfect Rotten Tomato score, the latter, which stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, has surpassed the Cillian Murphy-starring biopic’s box office takings.

In a new interview with The Independent, Nolan described Oppenheimer as “the biggest film I’ve made”. Murphy admitted to struggling to watch the film due to seeing his face projected on the screen, but acknowledged that the film is “designed” to be “watched with an audience”.

Meanwhile, Gerwig has spoken about her film’s “mic drop” ending, after breaking the record for the biggest box office debut by a female director.

Key points

• ‘Life in plastic, it’s fantastic!’: Barbie gets five stars from The Independent
• Read The Independent’s four-star review of Oppenheimer
• Mission: Impossible struggles at box office against record-breaking might of Barbenheimer
• Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy on Oppenheimer: ‘Taking that risk on behalf of us all – there’s nothing bigger than that’
• Oppenheimer’s women: the true story of the brilliant, complicated female figures behind the famed physicist

[21 July 2023 11:30 · Peony Hirwani]

Don’t be late to Oppenheimer 70mm IMAX screenings!

There’s been a lot of talk about seeing Oppenheimer in 70mm IMAX, which refers to viewing screen size. But it’s important to note that you should expect there to be no advertisements or prior trailers before the movie. Therefore, the movie will begin promptly at your listed showtime.

This is apparently due to the size of the film print: 70mm is much larger than the standard size.

[21 July 2023 11:00 · Peony Hirwani]

Barbie’s impressive Rotten Tomatoes score revealed

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie has scored an impressive 89 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes.

The film which debuted on the review-aggregation website on Wednesday (19 July) stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken.

[21 July 2023 10:30 · Peony Hirwani]

Barbie filmmaker Greta Gerwig on art, commerce and embracing the mess

[21 July 2023 10:00 · Peony Hirwani]

Barbie movie merchandise: From Barbie dolls to a Zara collaboration

Outside of buying a ticket to watch the movie, there are plenty of ways for us real-life folk to be a part of the Barbie fun.

From branded shoes, t-shirts and, of course, the dolls themselves, here is a guide to the merchandise on-sale to join in the Barbie (and Ken) party.