Barbie smashes The Dark Knight’s 15-year-old box office record
Christopher Nolan’s 2008 superhero film had not been surpassed – until now
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Barbie has beaten a box office record held by Christopher Nolan’s 2008 superhero blockbuster The Dark Knight.
Greta Gerwig’s comedy-drama film, adapted from the popular Mattel toy franchise, was released in cinemas last Friday (21 July). It premiered on the same day as Nolan’s latest film Oppenheimer, with the two films enjoying a joint publicity storm referred to as “Barbenheimer”.
As reported by Variety, Barbie took in $26m (£20m) at the US box office on Monday (24 July).
The figure constitutes the highest ever Monday gross for a film released by Warner Bros. The previous record holder was Nolan’s Batman sequel The Dark Knight, which made $24.6m (unadjusted for inflation).
Barbie has already proved a huge financial success for Warner Bros, taking in $162m (£125m) in the US and a total of $337m (£261m) globally over its opening weekend.
The figure represents the biggest opening weekend of the year, beating children’s animation The Super Mario Bros Movie.
Oppenheimer, meanwhile, took less over its opening weekend – $80.5m (£62m) in the US and $174.2m (£135m) globally – but has still been hailed as a hit.
The film follows the life of nuclear scientist J Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), often described as the “Father of the Atomic Bomb”.
Oppenheimer enjoyed a near-perfect score on the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, with Barbie scoring slightly lower.
However, The Independent critic Clarisse Loughrey gave Barbie a glowing five-star review, remarking: “Barbie is one of the most inventive, immaculately crafted and surprising mainstream films in recent memory – a testament to what can be achieved within even the deepest bowels of capitalism.
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
Watch Apple TV+ free for 7 days
New subscribers only. £8.99/mo. after free trial. Plan auto-renews until cancelled
“It’s timely, too, arriving a week after the creative forces behind these stories began striking for their right to a living wage and the ability to work without the threat of being replaced by an AI. It’s a pink-splattered manifesto to the power of irreplaceable creative labour and imagination.”
The “Barbenheimer” phenomenon appears to have benefited both films at the box office, with Oppenheimer even gaining some ticket sales from sold-out Barbie screenings.
Both films blew past the recent Tom Cruise blockbuster Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.
In an interview this week, Barbie director Greta Gerwig responded to backlash from a number of right-wing viewers over the film’s feminist content.
Barbie and Oppenheimer are out in cinemas now.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments