Pink dominates: "Barbie" is more successful than "Oppenheimer"

Luca Fontana

7.8.2023

Translation: machine translated

The cinema industry is rejoicing: two films are currently having audiences flocking to their sales. But who would have thought that "Barbie" would be more successful than "Oppenheimer"?

The prestigious milestone has been reached: Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" has grossed more than one billion US dollars at the global box office - 1.03 billion US dollars, to be precise. And that's even before Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer". This is shown by the figures from Box Office Mojo, the leading source for box office data and analyses.

No one would have bet on this a few months ago. Yet the starting position offered the best conditions for an exciting neck-and-neck race right from the start: Both films opened in cinemas at exactly the same time, on 21 July. However, it was surprising that the work of the American star director would lose out in the duel for financial success. After all, Nolan has already broken the brand twice with the two "The Dark Knight" sequels. "Oppenheimer", on the other hand, is currently stuck at a worldwide box office of "only" 553 million dollars, well behind "Barbie".

And Gerwig? Her most successful cinema film to date was "Little Women" from 2019 - the film grossed just 218.9 million US dollars.

Big success for "Barbie" - even beyond "Barbenheimer"

This means that "Barbenheimer" has written another surprising chapter. The fact that two such different films would be released in cinemas on exactly the same day was something that social media found incredibly absurd and funny. "Barbie" is a comedy about the complexity of being a woman and an open criticism of the patriarchy. "Oppenheimer", on the other hand, is a complex drama about the father of the first atomic bomb. This gave rise to the jocular term "Barbenheimer", which was used to describe the simultaneous release of the dissimilar films.

"Barbie" is only the second film this year to break the 1 billion dollar barrier. So far, only "Super Mario Bros." from the animation house Illuminations has achieved this with a success of 1.35 billion US dollars. The otherwise reliable franchises around "Guardians of the Galaxy", "Fast & Furious", "Spider-Man", "Indiana Jones", "Mission: Impossible", "John Wick" and "Transformers" were denied this success. The audience is probably also sending a clear signal to Hollywood: more quality, less CGI fuss.

If you haven't seen either of the two "Barbenheimer" films yet and don't know which one to watch first, our film reviews may be able to help you:

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.» more