It’s Barbenheimer weekend, considered the cinematic event of the summer by many, and it looks like the Barbie movie’s opening isn’t going to disappoint. Barbie is on track to have the biggest opening weekend of any film in 2023 thus far. Combined with Oppenheimer‘s opening weekend take, the box office is the strongest it’s been overall since before the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing in $308 million across all films. Barbie, which is carrying an A CinemaScore, will open with $150 million according to Warner Bros., though others see that estimate as conservative, believing the film will open with $160+ million. The Greta Gerwig-directed, Margot Robbie-led movie is one of the rare films in recent memory where critics and audiences seem to agree, both granting the movie a 90% positive rating on . ComicBook.com’s Nicole Drum awarded :
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“Barbie is quite possibly Gerwig’s best film to date. It is insightful, hilarious, and packed with thoughtful commentary as well as an incredible amount of Easter eggs and one-liners that will reward audiences of every age and opinion on Barbie, not just on the first watch, but on multiple rewatches. Barbie pulls off the near-impossible task of taking what could have been merely a capitalist IP-driven cash grab and turned it into a celebration of and commentary on culture that gives the audience permission and encouragement to challenge not only everything they think Barbie represents, but what the world asks of us mere humans as well so that we never go back into the box again.”
Oppenheimer has been similarly well received. The latest Christopher Nolan movie has a 93% positive score from critics and a similar rating from audiences. ComicBook.com’s Patrick Cavanaugh gave
“After a long string of crowd-pleasers that also manage to inject ambitious philosophical and existential components, Oppenheimer is Christopher Nolan’s most intellectual and internal experience in years. It showcases the universality of humanistic struggles without hingeing upon them entirely, while also subtly yet exponentially layering in explicit critiques of global war machines. Despite chronicling events that unfolded 70 years ago, exploring an arms race or being given conflicting information by government authorities and being expected to honor ever-changing ideologies feels immensely contemporary. With Oppenheimer, Nolan orchestrates a talented symphony of performers at the top of their game to explore an overlooked corner of history, treating it with nuance and respect while lesser hands would lean into melodrama. The movie is a tribute not only to the true-life figures who pushed the limits of science forward, but also to those who suffered the consequences of those forward-thinkers’ quest for fire.”
Barbie and Oppenheimer are both playing in theaters now. The list of top 10 films at the box office this weekend is in the works.
1. Barbie
- Opening Weekend
- Total: $150 million
In Barbie, to live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken. From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig comes Barbie, which hit theaters on July 21st. Barbie stars Oscar-nominees Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, alongside America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell. The film also stars 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, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Dua Lipa and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren. Gerwig directed Barbie from a screenplay by Gerwig & Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach, based on Barbie by Mattel.
2. Oppenheimer
- Opening Weekend
- Total: $77 million
During World War II, Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves Jr. appoints physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to work on the top-secret Manhattan Project. Oppenheimer and a team of scientists spend years developing and designing the atomic bomb. Their work comes to fruition on July 16, 1945, as they witness the world’s first nuclear explosion, forever changing the course of history.
Christopher Nolan wrote and directed Oppenheimer based on the American Prometheus, the 2005 biography written by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. The film stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Tom Conti, and Kenneth Branagh.
3. Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One
- Week Two
- Weekend: $21 million
- Total: $120.2 million
Tom Cruise is back as Ethan Hunt in Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, which premiered in theaters on July 12th. It’s the beginning of the end for the action-packed franchise, as Cruise reteams with longtime collaborator and filmmaker Christopher McQuarrie for more death-defying and breathtaking stunts. Hunt and allies Ilsa Faust (Rebecca Ferguson), Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames), and Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) attempt to track down a new weapon with the power to tear the world apart. Actors Hayley Atwell, Pom Klementieff, and Esai Morales join the cast for the latest installment in thehttps://comicbook.com/category/mission-impossible-noncomicmovie/Mission: Impossible franchise, which is set to wrap up with Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part Two.
4. Sound of Freedom
- Week Three
- Weekend: $20 million
- Total: $124.6 million
After rescuing a boy from ruthless child traffickers, a federal agent learns the boy’s sister is still captive and decides to embark on a dangerous mission to save her. With time running out, he quits his job and journeys deep into the Colombian jungle, putting his life on the line to free her from a fate worse than death.
Alejandro Monteverde directed Sound of Freedom and co-wrote the film’s script with Rod Barr. It stars Jim Caviezel, Mira Sorvino, Bill Camp, and Eduardo Verastegui.
5. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
- Week Four
- Weekend: $7 million
- Total: $159.3 million
The iconic Harrison Ford returns for one last adventure when Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny premiered in theaters on June 30th. Lucasfilm’s latest film in the long-running franchise sees Dr. Jones team up with his goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) in a race against nefarious forces to secure a powerful artifact. The duo will go up against the mysterious former Nazi-turned-NASA scientist Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), and the film also features stars Boyd Holbrook, Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones, and John Rhys Davies. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is directed by James Mangold and is set to be Ford’s final appearance as the iconic archeologist.
6. Insidious: The Red Door
- Week Three
- Weekend: $6.5 million
- Total: $71 million
Josh Lambert heads east to drop his son, Dalton, off at school. However, Dalton’s college dream soon becomes a living nightmare when the repressed demons of his past suddenly return to haunt them both.
Patrick Wilson directed Insidious: The Red Door from a screenplay by Scott Teems, based on a story by Leigh Whannell and Teems, as a direct sequel to Insidious: Chapter 2. The film stars Ty Simpkins, Patrick Wilson, Andrew Astor, Rose Byrne, Steve Coulter, Whannell, Angus Sampson, Lin Shaye, Hiam Abbass, and Sinclair Daniel.
7. Elemental
- Week Six
- Weekend: $6.2 million
- Total: $137.6 million
In a city where fire, water, land, and air residents live together, a fiery young woman and a go-with-the-flow guy discover something elemental: how much they actually have in common.
Peter Sohn directed Elemental from a screenplay by Sohn, John Hoberg and Kat Likkel, and Brenda Hsueh. The film’s voice cast includes Leah Lewis, Mamoudou Athie, Ronnie del Carmen, Shila Ommi, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Catherine O’Hara.
8. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
- Week Eight
- Weekend: $2.9 million
- Total: $375.2 million
Miles Morales returns to the big screen in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, hitting theaters on June 2nd. Miles (Shamiek Moore) reunites with fellow heroes Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) and Peter B. Parker (Jake Johnson) for another web-swinging adventure through the multiverse, finding himself at odds with the Spider-Society led by Spider-Man 2099 (Oscar Isaac). Other new heroes include Spider-Woman Jessica Drew (Issa Rae), Spider-Punk (Daniel Kaluuya), and Pavitr Prabhakar (Karan Soni), while new villain the Spot (Jason Schwartzman) also enters the fray.
The sequel to Sony Pictures’ hit 2018 film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is directed by Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, and written by the team of Chris Miller, Phil Lord, and Dave Callaham.
9. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
- Week Seven
- Weekend: $1.1 million
- Total: $155.6 million
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, which premieres on June 9th, is the seventh movie in the live-action Transformers franchise. Inspired by the fan-favorite reboot of the series, the iconic Beast Wars, the movie is a globetrotting adventure set in the 1990s complete with an era-specific soundtrack.
Peter Cullen returns to voice Optimus Prime in the new movie, appearing alongside other Autobots and Decepticons including Bumblebee and Pete Davidson as Mirage. Other factions from the Transformers franchise like the Maximals, Predacons, and Terrorcons will also appear, with Ron Perlman set to voice the gorilla-inspired Optimus Primal. Directed by Creed II‘s Steven Caple Jr. the film stars Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback on the human side with Oscar-winner Michelle Yeoh voicing the Maximal Airazor.
10. No Hard Feelings
- Week Five
- Weekend: $1.08 million
- Total: $49.2 million
On the brink of losing her childhood home, a desperate woman agrees to date a wealthy couple’s introverted and awkward 19-year-old son. However, he proves to be more of a challenge than she expected, and time is running out before she loses it all.
Gene Stupnitsky directed No Hard Feelings from a screenplay he co-wrote with John Phillips. The movie stars Jennifer Lawrence, Andrew Barth Feldman, Laura Benanti, Natalie Morales, and Matthew Broderick.
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