411 Box Office Report: Barbie & Oppenheimer Reign For Second Straight Weekend

It was another Barbenheimer weekend at the box office as Barbie and Oppenheimer both recorded great holds to retain the top spots. Barbie led the way once again with $93 million, marking a drop of just 43% from its 2023 record opening weekend. That is a stellar hold for a film that opened much larger than originally anticipated and marks the seventh-best second weekend of all-time.

There was some expectation of a great fall for this weekend considering how big Barbie had overperformed. That often suggests a frontloaded film, as there are simply less potential audience members who haven’t checked it out. Instead, the word of mouth helped it out. It can’t be emphasized how much Warner Bros. Pictures needed this success, which now has the film at the #4 domestic grosser of 2023 already at $351.4 million. That’s just a breath away from Guardians of the Galaxy 3’s $358.9 million for #3, and not far behind Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Even better, the hold overseas topped that of the domestic as it fell 32% internationally. Through two weekends, the Margot Robbie-led film stands at $774.5 million worldwide and is the third best grosser of the year by that metric behind only Super Mario Bros. ($1.355 billion) and Guardians 3 ($837.9 million). At this point, the film is almost certainly going to cross $500 million domestically and will easily pass the billion-dollar mark worldwide. Against a $128 million budget, this is obviously a massive hit for the story.

Oppenheimer is also doing great business, as it was down just 44% from its own overperforming opening weekend. The Christopher Nolan biopic brought in $46.2 million, bringing its totals to a fantastic $174.1 million domestically and $400 million worldwide. This is the best performance by far for Cillian Murphy as a lead actor and is on its way to being a top-tier performer in Nolan’s resume.

Oppenheimer is also getting its money on the back of great word of mouth and hype. The reported budget has been heavily revised down to $100 million, which makes this a hit (Nolan was misquoted regarding the budget in an interview), which of course makes this also a major hit. The film seems likely to top $260 million with ease and with a mild slate of competition over the next month, it even has a solid shot of being the highest-grossing non-Batman film of Nolan’s career, a mark currently held by Inception at $292.6 million.

In less positive news, Haunted Mansion was no match for the top two films as it grossed $24.2 million in its opening weekend. That is slightly below the $25 million to $30 million that most expected it to do coming into the weekend. Interestingly, the opening is almost exactly the $24.3 million that the Eddie Murphy Haunted Mansion film opened to in 2003.

Of course, there are a few major caveats in that comparison. To point out the obvious first off, it’s not 2003 and $24.2 million isn’t nearly as impressive now. Second, the Eddie Murphy film opened on a Wednesday and so its start was actually $34 million over five days. And most importantly, that Haunted Mansion cost $90 million, not $150 million. And even if it was the same budget, that’s not a positive sign as the original film was a disappointment with $180 million worldwide.

But enough about the past; let’s look at the present and just how not great this is. Despite a massive cast of known names, Haunted Mansion was unable to match the grosses of other recent supernatural comedies like 2016’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children ($28.8 million) and 2018’s The House with a Clock in its Walls, neither of which were considered to be smash hits.

We can chalk this up to a few simple facts. First of all, Barbie is the family comedy choice du jour right now and Haunted Mansion’s audience was busy watching the WB movie. It also didn’t help that the film was shrugged at by critics with a 41% aggregated score on Rotten Tomatoes. Word of mouth is just okay with a 85% RT audience rating and a B+ CinemaScore – which sounds good out of context, but remember that films of this style are targeting at least an A-.

It gets worse for Haunted Mansion when you look at the anemic overseas numbers. The film opened in most of its major territories but only grossed $9.1 million. There are still some key markets left such as the UK, Japan and Australia, but a $33.1 million worldwide start is not good by any measure. And due to the supernatural elements, China is unlikely to allow it to screen there. Right now Haunted Mansion is looking at around $75 million to $80 million domestically and will be a money loser when it’s all said and done.

Sound of Freedom finally began acting a bit more like a typical film but is still very strong, down 37% in its fourth weekend to $148.9 million. That’s an amazing number for the action-thriller, which is a runaway success against a $14.5 million budget. Sound of Freedom is still looking like it will top $175 million and probably more, marking another bright spot for the box office in July after a bumpy June.

Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 was down 45% in its third weekend to $10.7 million. That’s action blockbuster is looking like it might struggle to be profitable at this point, with $139.3 million domestically and $448.2 million worldwide against a $290 million budget. It’s still not completely lost in terms of profit but it will have to have some pretty strong continued holds from here, particularly overseas. Domestically it is now looking at around $170 million or so.

A24 scored its latest horror hit with Talk To Me, which rode a wave of positive buzz to $10 million. That’s huge for a film that was pegged at $4 million to $5 million coming into the weekend. The opening marks A24’s second-best ever behind Hereditary’s $13.6 million opening in June of 2018.

Talk To Me has been the big buzzy indie horror entry of the summer, accruing hype after a great wave of reviews out of its Sundance Film Festival premiere. Those positive reviews held up when it went wide, and the flick now has a 95% RT average. Word of mouth is also good with an 82% RT audience rating and a B+ CinemaScore. Yes, those are about the same as Haunted Mansion, but straight horror tends to mark lower audience satisfaction scores as a rule.

All of this is good news for A24, who spent $4.5 million on Talk to Me’s production budget. The film has yet to open overseas but it’s already well on its way to success. It should be able to at least gross $25 million even if it proves to be very frontloaded.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny was down 40% in its fifth weekend to $4 million. The adventure blockbuster now has $167.1 million domestically and $356 million worldwide against a hefty $300 million budget. It’s still aiming film around $175 million for its final domestic gross and will be a money loser for Disney.

Elemental slipped 41% in its seventh weekend to $3.4 million. The Pixar film is up to $145 million domestically and $395 million worldwide against a $200 million budget. Disney and Pixar can at least be happy that this one isn’t losing much money thanks to its great box office legs, but it still won’t be profitable and is looking to close out at around $155 million.

Insidious: The Red Door was down 52% in its fourth weekend to take in $3.2 million. The horror film entry is now at $78.1 million domestically and $174.4 million worldwide, still it on course to be the highest grossing film in the franchise. It should end its stateside run at around $85 million domestically, big money against a budget of $16 million.

Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse was down 50% in its eighth weekend to bring in $1.4 million. The animated sequel is now at $378.8 million domestically and $682.3 million worldwide, and it will close out with around $382 million in US. The budget was $100 million, making this a massive hit.

Next weekend will see the same on top as Barbie and Oppenheimer will rule over two newcomers. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is likely to gross around $30 million over the three day (it opens on Wednesday), while Meg 2: The Trench should bring in around $25 million or so.

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. Barbie – $93 million ($351.4 million total, $774.5 million WW)
2. Oppenheimer – $46.2 million ($174.1 million total, $400.4 million WW)
3. Haunted Mansion – $24.2 million ($24.2 million total, $33.2 million WW)
4. Sound Of Freedom – $12.4 million ($149 million domestically, $149 million WW)
5. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 – $10.7 million ($139.2 million total, $448.2 million WW)
6. Talk To Me – $10 million ($10 million total, $10 million WW)
7. Indiana Jones and the Dial Of Destiny – $4 million ($167.1 million total, $356.1 million WW)
8. Elemental – $3.4 million ($145 million total, $395 million WW)
9. Insidious: The Red Door – $3.2 million ($78.1 million domestically, $174.4 million WW)
10. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse – $1.4 million ($378.8 million total, $682.3 million WW)