by Nathaniel R
By now even people who don't pay attention to the movies (a depressing large amount of people) know that this weekend was historic. Barbenheimer broke all kinds of records and in just three days rescued the overall numbers of this summer. People seemed genuinely thrilled to be at the movies this past weekend, didn't they? At least they did in NYC where we witnessed the pink-clad mania. Oppenheimer viewers were harder to spot --no color uniting them -- but they were also out in droves as both movies had enormous, even historic weekends. So much for Hollywood's recent-history belief that you shouldn't open big movies opposite each other. Competition used to be the norm but it's been rare in recent years...
| Weekend Box Office July 21-23 🔺 = new or expanding / ★ = Recommended |
|
| WIDE (Over 600 Screens) | LIMITED / PLATFORM |
 BARBIE |
 THEATER CAMP |
|
1🔺★ BARBIE $162 *NEW* 4243 screens |
1 ★ PAST LIVES $563k (cum. $10) 629 screens |
|
2 🔺★ OPPENHEIMER $82.4 *NEW* 3610 screens |
2 🔺★ THEATER CAMP $280k (cum. $687k) 51 screens |
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3 SOUND OF FREEDOM $19.8 (cum. $124.4) 3285 screens
|
3 ★ THE MIRACLE CLUB $186k (cum. $1.3) 271 screens |
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4 MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE -DEAD RECKONING PART ONE $19.3 (cum. $118.6) 4321 screens |
4 TERRIFIER (re-release) $123k 400 screens |
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5 INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY $6.6 (cum. $158.9) 2885 screens |
5 GO WEST $50k *NEW* 24 screens |
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6 INSIDIOUS: THE RED DOOR $6.6 (cum. $71.1) 2554 screens |
6 🔺 AFIRE $24k (cum. $78k) 8 screens |
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7 ELEMENTAL $5.7 (cum. $137.1) 2720 screens |
7🔺 HAVE YOU GOT IT YET? THE STORY OF SYD BARRETT & PINK FLOYD (doc) $8k *NEW* 1 screen |
 NO HARD FEELINGS |
 LAKOTA NATION VS UNITED STATES |
|
8 ★ SPIDER-MAN ACROSS THE SPIDER-VERSE $2.8 (cum. $375.2) 1669 screens |
7 SQUARING THE CIRCLE (doc) $5k (cum. $101k) 9 screens |
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9 TRANSFORMERS RISE OF THE BEASTS $1.1 (cum. $155.6) 834 screens |
8 THE LEAGUE (doc) $5K ($58k) 17 screens |
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10 ★ NO HARD FEELINGS $1.0 (cum. $49.2) 1017 screens |
9 CLOSE TO VERMEER (doc) $4k (cum. $150k) 10 screens |
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11 THE LITTLE MERMAID $695k (cum. $296.1) |
10 PSYCHO-PASS PROVIDENCE (anime) $3k (cum. $307k) 21 screens |
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only 11 movies in wide release |
11 ★ LAKOTA NATION VS US (doc) $3k (cum. $14k) 2 screens |
|
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12★ BLUE JEAN (UK) $1k (cum. $108k) 8 screens |
A sampling of the many box office records (though we're skipping the obscure or super 'conditional' records of which there are many) Barbenheimer broke...
- Barbie scored the biggest opening weekend of 2023 (thus far)
- Oppenheimer scored the biggest opening weekend of 2023 for a R rated film (thus far)
- Barbie scored the largest opening weekend of all time for...
...a film directed by a woman
... a film starring Margot Robbie
... a film starring Ryan Gosling
... a film directed by Greta Gerwig
... a film based on a toy
... a film released in July that wasn't a sequel or remake - Oppenheimer is the biggest opening of Chris Nolan's career outside of the Batman films
- Oppenheimer also had the biggest global opening for a biopic ever which is quite a surprise when you realize that the film it had to beat for that record was Bohemian Rhapsody (!!!) which eventually grossed $910 million worldwide.
In limited release there wasn't much happening though it's worth noting that Past Lives, the critical sensation sleeper hit of the early summer, has now passed $10 million at the box office which is downright miraculous when you stop to consider that it's a) an indie that's b) mostly subtitled and c) has no bankable stars was made by d) a director nobody had heard of e) with a hard to describe plot and f) it's not even close to Oscar season where sometimes fetching dramas can make good coin if voters notice them in time.
In fact, Past Lives has collected more at the US box office now than FOUR of last year's Best Picture nominees did (All Quiet on the Western Front, Triangle of Sadness, TÁR, and Women Talking) and if it can hold strong for another two weeks it'll beat The Banshees of Inisherin too!
Next weekend Barbie and Oppenheimer probably don't have much to fear but you never know. Disney's Haunted Mansion (which looks absolutely terrible... at least in trailer form) and a horror movie called Talk To Me are the new wide releases. In limited release we'll get the surfing action film Sons of Summer, the sex workers documentary Kokomo City, the critically acclaimed Spanish/French film The Beasts, the indie drama The Unknown Country starring Lily Gladstone, and the Native American drama War Pony.
What did you watch this past week? Or, rather, in what order did you watch Barbenheimer?