The opening weekend of Barbie and Oppenheimer has been historic for a lot of reasons.
Both films were directed by acclaimed directors and featured all-star casts.
Barbie smashed box office records across the weekend and into Monday.
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And the hype around the two films has dominated the internet for weeks on end, with the term 'Barbieheimer' being created to explain the pop culture phenomenon.
But most importantly, they were both completely original films. Not reboots or sequels or part of a cinematic universe.
Barbie, which was directed by Greta Gerwig, stars Margot Robbie as the titular character who leaves Barbie Land and embarks on an adventure in The Real World.
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It also stars Ryan Gosling as Ken, Michael Cera as Alan, and Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Will Ferrell and America Ferrera. The film delivers a clever feminist message wrap up in two hours of hot pink fun.
Oppenheimer couldn't be a more different film.
The biopic, directed by Christopher Nolan, tells the story of J. Robert Oppenheimer (played by Cillian Murphy), the man who created the atomic bomb and was also a bit of a lothario.
Millions of people around the world headed to their local cinema to see one or both of the films over the weekend.
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Experts now believe the huge response to Barbieheimer is proof that people want to see more original films.
“Everyone came out this weekend for two ORIGINAL, smart, quality movies,” Clare Binns, managing director of indie distributor Picturehouse, wrote on Twitter this week.
“It’s what audiences want. Reboots, superheroes and films with bloated budgets that often cover a lack of ideas -- time to take stock. No algorithms this weekend.”
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Barbie has already made $155 million at the US box office in the first three days, and Oppenheimer has hit $80.5 million. In comparison, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny only made $300 million at the box office internationally, and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning fell short of box office expectations, hitting $56 million at the US box office in its first three days.
IMAX chief executive Richard Gelfond told AP News he hopes the huge box office numbers will convince movie studios to make more original films.
“I’ve always joked that if there’s a tornado movie that works that the next year there will be three tornado movies. There’s an internal prejudice to doing what works,” he said.
“I’m hopeful that these movies were original by noted filmmakers will convince studios to lean into that direction rather than doing what’s safe.
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He added: “The numbers don’t lie."
Featured Image Credit: Warner Bros. Universal Pictures.Topics: News, TV and Film, Oppenheimer, Barbie
