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The so-called Barbenheimer phenomenon continued unabated on Monday. Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” earned a stunning $26.1 million on its fourth day of release, bringing its domestic total to $188 million. That puts it just past “John Wick: Chapter 4” ($187 million) for the seventh-biggest earner of 2023. Considering Tuesday is “cheap ticket Tuesday,” with most major theater chains offering heavily discounted tickets, the $145 million Warner Bros. Discovery film should soar past $200 million by Tuesday evening.
In terms of milestones, “Barbie” earned the 13th biggest Monday ever, and the biggest ever for a Warner Bros. release. However, when you remove holiday Mondays like “Black Panther” ($40 million), “Top Gun: Maverick” ($34 million) and “Spider-Man 2” ($28 million), it vaults up to 9th place.
Moreover, remove the various mid-December blockbusters (Disney’s “Star Wars” films, “Avatar: The Way of Water,” “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” etc.) that had their first or second Monday fall on a day when most kids were out of school due to Christmas/New Years break, and its Monday gross is behind only the $33 million fourth-day posted by “Avengers: Endgame” after a $356 million opening weekend.
Overseas figures have not been released for Monday, but presuming it continued the weekend’s 45%/55% domestic/overseas split, its global total is now at around $410 million. That’s already WB’s biggest earner since “The Batman,” which nabbed $370 million domestic and $770 million in March 2022. At this rate of success, especially with Disney’s “The Haunted Mansion” not expected to make that much noise over the weekend, “Barbie” could be past The Dark Knight (but not “The Dark Knight”) by Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, “Oppenheimer” is pulling its weight, with a $12.6 million Monday gross, down just 46% from Sunday, for a $95 million four-day cumulative total. That’s the biggest non-holiday Monday total ever for an R-rated movie. Christopher Nolan’s R-rated, three-hour, action-free historical drama will pass $100 million by the end of this sentence. The Barbenheimer buzz got audiences in the door, but the films themselves are what’s spreading the strong word of mouth and thus far exceptional legs.
