Greta Gerwig’s Barbie had a monumental domestic opening of $155 million, outperforming already lofty expectations of up to $110 million. Its viral marketing counterpart, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, also saw great success—raking in $80.5 million in a historic dual-movie weekend. It’s the first time ever that a three-day weekend had one movie open to more than $100 million and another to at least $50 million in what was also the fourth-biggest domestic box office weekend of all time. The massive Barbie opening also marks the biggest debut weekend ever for a film directed by a woman. As extraordinary as the numbers are, they weren’t completely unexpected. The “Barbenheimer” phenomenon took over social media for the past several months, with the two blockbuster movies feeding off each other’s success despite their vastly different subject matters.
