Marking a hot-pink, record-breaking bright spot for a film industry still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and now disrupted by two massive strikes, Warner Bros. Pictures’ “Barbie” debuted in first place at the box office this weekend, earning $155 million in the United States and Canada. The PG-13 comedy easily defeated Universal Pictures’ “Oppenheimer,” which opened in second place with $80.5 million — a very impressive number for an R-rated film — according to studio estimates.
In addition to notching the biggest launch of the year — ahead of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” — Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” also scored the best domestic debut of all time for a titleThe combined returns of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” helped make this the highest-grossing weekend since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, according to measurement firm Comscore, and the fourth-highest-grossing weekend ever at the domestic box office .
That’s a huge deal, especially when you consider that — before “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” — the domestic box office was lagging 16.1% and 6.6% behind the year-to-date earnings of 2019 and 2022, respectively, according to Comscore. And the record is unlikely to be beaten any time soon, as the ongoing strikes by Hollywood’s writers and actors will prevent talent from promoting forthcoming work.