‘Barbie’ Set A New Box Office Record

Greta Gerwig's Barbie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer made their theatrical debuts this weekend. And it looks like the former is making history. Despite the highly-anticipated films being part of the social media-driven Barbenheimer double-feature, Barbie is the one that came out on top at the box office. Per Variety, Gerwig's Barbie earned $155 million in its opening weekend, making it the biggest debut ever for a film directed by a woman. The title was previously held by 2019's Captain Marvel, which was co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck at $153 million in 2019. Holding the title prior to that was 2017's Patty Jenkins-directed Wonder Woman, raking in $103 million.

On top of the record-breaking opening, Barbie also earned the biggest opening weekend of the year, beating The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which earned $146 million. Rounding out 2023's top five highest-earning opening weekend so far are Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, The Little Mermaid, and Avatar: The Way of Water. In advance screenings alone on Thursday, Barbie made $22.4 million, while Oppenheimer made $10.5 million.

Both Barbie and Oppenheimer boast large ensemble casts. Aside from Margot Robbie as the titular character, Barbie stars Ryan Gosling, Kate McKinnon, Will Ferrell, America Ferrera, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, and Dua Lipa. The soundtrack for the film is just as star-studded, with songs by Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Ava Max, Charli XCX, Dominic Fike, Dua Lipa, Fifty Fifty, Gayle, Haim, Nicki Minaj, Ice Spice, Kali, Karol G, Khalid, PinkPantheress, Ryan Gosling, Tame Impala, and the Kid Laroi.

Meanwhile, Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Kenneth Branagh, David Krumholtz, Josh Peck, Casey Affleck, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek, Kenneth Branagh, and Jack Quaid.

Barbie and Oppenheimer are both in theaters now.