Greta Gerwig Makes History As Barbie And Oppenheimer Smash Box Office Records

Everyone was a winner as ‘Barbenheimer’ weekend finally arrived.
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Barbie director Greta Gerwig
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Barbie, Oppenheimer and their respective directors, Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan, all broke records as the highly-anticipated movies finally arrived in cinemas this weekend. 

Gerwig’s fuschia-hued comedy and Nolan’s three-hour long biopic were both released on Friday and saw fans flock to cinemas – with some even watching them back to back. 

While we’ll have to wait a few more days to find out how much money the movies made in the UK, US figures and global estimates reveal that numerous records have already been broken. 

Barbie claimed the top spot in the box office charts, taking a massive $155 million (£120m) in North American cinemas, surpassing The Super Mario Bros. Movie to land the biggest opening weekend of the year. 

The figure also means Gerwig has broken the record for the first weekend takings by a movie with a female director. 

Meanwhile, Oppenheimer took $80.5m (£60m) making it Nolan’s biggest non-Batman debut and one of the best-ever starts for an R-rated biopic. 

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Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan
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It’s the first time ever that one movie has opened to more than $100 million and another movie opened to more than $80 million in the same weekend.

Internationally, Barbie earned $182m (£142m) from 69 territories, giving the film a global first weekend total of $337m (£262m) in box office takings. 

Oppenheimer surpassed $93.7m (£73m) from 78 territories, for a $174.2m (£136m) global total.

Barbie and Oppenheimer both proved hugely popular with critics, who have already tipped Ryan Gosling and Cillian Murphy for awards season nods. 

And even though Barbie has been out for just a few days, Little Women director Gerwig is already getting stuck into her next project after signing up for another seriously ambitious literary adaptation

Additional reporting by AP.