Barbenheimer blows up the box office during its opening weekend.

In a thrilling spectacle for moviegoers worldwide, the opening of Barbie and Oppenheimer, aka Barbenheimer, officially blew up the box office during its opening weekend.

The phenomenon took the big screen by storm, with the dynamic duo driving cinema to hit its biggest weekend of admissions in New Zealand since July 2019.

The highly anticipated Barbie, masterfully directed and produced by the visionary genius, Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie, was the undeniable star, delivering over 172, 000 admissions during its Thursday to Sunday opening weekend with 63% of the total audience within the P14-39 demographic.

At the box office, Barbie has set records, claiming the title of biggest opening weekend ever for a female-directed film, as well as the biggest opening weekend for a comedy film, beating out Pitch Perfect 2 which was released in 2015.

Christopher Nolan’s historical drama Oppenheimer delivered 77,000 admits over its opening weekend, with an incredible 76% of the total audience falling into the P14-39 demographic, which makes it the third-biggest opening for a drama film in New Zealand

Matt Tremain, NZ Sales Director Val Morgan Cinema said “Barbenheimer has been the biggest cultural moment of the year, affirming the influential force cinema has to create iconic moments that will echo through generations to come. We’re so pleased to see both films already achieve such remarkable success locally and globally.”

Beyond the box office triumph, both films have scored themselves overwhelmingly positive reviews and strong scores on Rotten Tomatoes, with Barbie pulling 90% and Oppenheimer 94% for both critics and audience.

The slate of blockbuster releases is set to explode in the coming months, bringing even more cultural moments. Q4 will witness the highly anticipated arrivals of Dune: Part Two, The Marvels, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, Wonka, and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

Source: CineTAM 2023.