‘Barbie’ takes the box office crown and ‘Oppenheimer’ soars in a historic weekend

This is the first time that one movie opened to more than $100 million and another movie opened to more than $80 million in the same weekend. This weekend could be the fourth biggest box office weekend of all time with over $300 million industrywide. (Associated Press)

“ Barbenheimer ” didn’t just work — it spun box office gold. The social media-fueled fusion of Greta Gerwig’s “ Barbie ” and Christopher Nolan’s “ Oppenheimer ” brought moviegoers back to theaters in record numbers over the weekend, vastly outperforming projections and giving a glimmer of hope to the lagging exhibition business, amid the sobering backdrop of strikes.

Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” claimed the top spot with a massive $155 million in ticket sales from North American theaters from 4,243 locations, surpassing “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (as well as every Marvel movie this year) as the biggest opening of the year and breaking the first weekend record for a film directed by a woman. Universal’s “Oppenheimer” also soared past expectations, taking in $80.5 million from 3,610 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, marking Nolan’s biggest non-Batman debut and one of the best-ever starts for an R-rated biographical drama.