The phenomenon known as Barbenheimer created some historic moments at the box office this weekend. As the name suggests, the double-billing of Barbie and Oppenheimer propelled the total gross of movies this weekend to the fourth highest in history. For the Greta Gerwig-directed comedy, it also nabbed the honor of the biggest opening weekend of 2023, beating the previous record held by The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Barbie has now become the biggest debut ever for a film directed by a woman.
While Barbie just curb-stomped everything with a domestic total of $162 million (well over expectations), Oppenheimer was no slouch. Nolan’s latest feature debuted at $82.4 million domestically (also well over expectations), making it the third-best debut for the director. Both films also mopped up internationally, adding more than double their domestic grosses for some absolutely ludicrous amounts of money. It’s one of the first times in decades that two movies debuted at more than $100 million globally.
Elsewhere in the top 10, it was business as usual. The controversial Sound of Freedom squeaked out a third-place victory with $20.1 million, just barely beating Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One. The Tom Cruise stunt reel took a massive 64% tumble from last weekend, generating just $19.5 million domestically and barely adding much to its total gross. While unlikely to be a dud, it is the largest drop-off that the series has seen thus far.
Rounding out the top five was Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, which brought another $6.7 million in. With a global gross of $335 million, the film might just about break even by the time its theatrical run is over, but that’s still a dismal showing for the legendary icon.
Here are the top 10 films for the weekend of July 21 – 23, 2023. All totals are domestic:
- Barbie – $162 million
- Oppenheimer – $80.5 million
- Sound of Freedom – $20.1 million
- Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One – $19.5 million
- Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny – $6.7 million
- Insidious: The Red Door – $6.6 million
- Elemental – $5.8 million
- Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – $2.8 million
- Transformers: Rise of the Beasts – $1.1 million
- No Hard Feelings – $1 million
