‘Barbie’ bags top position in box office

“Barbie” has legs. Director Greta Gerwig’s film phenomenon remained a runaway No. 1 at the box office in its fourth week, bringing in USD 33.7 million. The Margot Robbie-led and produced film from Warner Bros, still in 4,137 theatres, refused to drop off as most box-office toppers have this year, surpassing USD 500 million in North America overall a week after it crossed the USD 1 billion mark globally — a record for a female director.
The second half of the “Barbenheimer” duo, “Oppenheimer”, returned to the No. 2 spot in its own fourth week after a week at No. 3 overall. The Christopher Nolan-directed film from Universal Pictures brought in USD 18.8 million from 3,761 locations for an overall domestic total of USD 264.3 million. The top pair had thin competition. The week’s only major wide release, Universal’s “The Last Voyage of the Demeter”, finished fifth with a USD 6.5 million opening weekend. “Barbie” is poised to become 2023’s top film. Its USD 526.3 million domestic total and USD 1.18 billion global bankroll currently sits second behind. “If you think of what Barbie’ and Oppenheimer’ together — just those two movies — have contributed in these weekends at the box office, it’s really a staggering number,” Dergarabedian said.
All movies combined this summer have earned USD 3.63 billion in North America. With significant releases remaining in August, including DC Comics’ “Blue Beetle”, the video game adaptation “Gran Turismo”, and the Denzel Washington sequel “The Equalizer 3”, the box office has a chance of reaching the USD 4 billion that was considered a domestic benchmark for a strong summer before the pandemic.