By The Barbenheimer phenomenon has finally been dethroned. After more than a month in the top spot at the box office, Barbie finally slid into number two against DC’s Blue Beetle. While that sounds impressive at first, it’s actually not cause for celebration. The Angel Manuel Soto-directed superhero film squeaked out a $25 million domestic opening with an additional $18 million internationally. This debut has made Blue Beetle one of the weakest openings for the DCEU and puts it behind both The Flash and Shazam: Fury of the Gods.
As for Barbie and Oppenheimer, they’re still doing big business despite being five weeks old. Barbie generated another $21.1 million with Oppenheimer bringing in $10.6 million. Barbie is just on the cusp of becoming 2023’s most profitable film and the Christopher Nolan-directed biopic has crossed $700 million globally. Both films will end their runs massively successful.
Going further down the charts, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem nabbed another $8.4 million, and Universal’s new film Strays debuted with $8.3 million. That’s not too hot for the Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx starring picture, though I think audiences are simply over movies with talking dogs.
Here are the top 10 movies for the weekend of August 18-20, 2023. All totals are domestic:
- Blue Beetle – $25 million
- Barbie – $21.1 million
- Oppenheimer – $10.6 million
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem – $8.4 million
- Strays – $8.3 million
- Talk To Me – $3.1 million
- Haunted Mansion – $3 million
- Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One – $2.7 million
- The Last Voyage of the Demeter – $2.5 million
- Sound of Freedom – $2.4 million
