1. Barbie – £13,226,848 – £47,988,743

Dropped 28.5% in the second weekend.

Took £4.2m Friday 31.7% (33.8% drop) £6.35m; £4.6m Saturday 34.8% (27.3% drop) £6.33m; £4.42m Sunday 33.4% (24.2% drop) £5.83m; Monday £2.96m

Added 24 cinemas in the second weekend (from 721 to 745) playing in 1,725 screens.

4^th biggest second weekend between Avengers: Endgame (£14.33m) and Spectre (£13.14m) (close to Skyfall, No Time To Die, Beauty and the Beast and Jurassic World) and 13^th biggest inflated between Beauty and the Beast and LOTR: The Return of the King (close to Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets, Casino Royale, Shrek 2 and Star Wars: The Force Awakens).

53^rd biggest between Shrek 2 and Jurassic Park (close to The Greatest Showman, Bridget Jones’s Baby, Mary Poppins Returns and Toy Story 2) and 137^th biggest inflated between Toy Story and Ocean’s Eleven (close to The Flintstones, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, Terminator 2: Judgement Day and Crocodile Dundee II); on Monday Barbie became the 46^th since 1998’s Titanic to take £50m+.

Barbie has been a steady performer daily since opening after taking about 12% of its current total Fri-Sun, this dropped to 7% Mon-Thurs and then up to 8% in its second Fri-Sun before dropping to 5.5% its second Mon/Tues. Oppenheimer, due to its length, has taken the bulk of its BO Sat/Sun 11% and 12% first weekend and 10% second Sat/Sun with Mon-Thurs 7% in first week and 5% in second week This was similarly the case with Avatar: The Way of Water.

It was hard to make comparisons between Barbie and other similar films (Enchanted, The Truman Show, The Lego Movie, Legally Blonde, Clueless, Josie and the Pussycats, The House Bunny, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion and Pleasantville) as none of them had opened anywhere near the expected opening of Barbie.

Can’t compare Barbie with films like Sex and The City or Mamma Mia! The only female-centric film that has had a huge opening, this also highlights the problem with this summer’s films that have been male-centric and many of them have failed to match expectations. But the reason why Barbie had a strong opening wasn’t just because it was a film targeting female audiences, but because it is a Ronseal film it does exactly what it says on the tin, it’s the perfect fun popcorn film, the perfect summer film as the reviews have shown, receiving many four and five-star reviews.

But when Warner Bros dated Barbie on July 21st, 2023, in April 2022 everyone probably thought they were mad as there was surely going to be only one winner that weekend, Oppenheimer. In the months leading up to the release of the first teaser for The Lego Movie in 2013, the film was regularly mocked, but as with The Lego Movie teaser, the mocking stopped after the first teaser was released in December. Always think you can tell a lot from a teaser if it’s kept simple as it shows the studio believes in the film. The best teasers are the simple ones like the one for Austin Powers 2 in 1999, if you see one film this summer see Star Wars if you see two see Austin Powers.

Barbenheimer helped Vue Cinemas beat its previous highest week admissions by 20% overtaking Skyfall’s opening week in 2020, selling out 2,000 shows over its opening weekend. Odeon Cinemas also sold over 2 million seats in 10 days (1m in the first 4 days), breaking records set by Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Odeon Cinemas had over 4 million admissions in July beating the record set in October 2021 No Time To Die, Dune and Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Cineworld had 1.7 million admissions with 846k for Barbie and 500k for Oppenheimer, including 120k in IMAX selling out 190 showings. Picturehouse had its busiest weekend in 29 cinemas including 50,000 admissions in the first three days for Barbie with 3,000 members seeing the double bill in the first three days.

The first 7 days of Barbenheimer helped UK cinemas have their highest-ever taking £66,373,575 (Barbie took £34.66m 52.2%) and Oppenheimer (£19.24m 29%) other films including Dead Reckoning Part 1, Elemental and Dial of Destiny took £12.46m 18.7%. This topped the previous biggest week December 18-24, 2015, £58,618,154 with the majority from Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

DCM said it had the highest weekly admissions for over 10 years (7m+) since Skyfall (7.6m)

Greta Gerwig previously directed 2018’s Lady Bird opened £1,233,508 (wide after one week limited) from 190 screens #3 taking £5,079,887 and 2019’s Little Women opened £3,578,877 #3 from 382 screens taking £21,283,939.

Barbie could go on and take anything from £85m to £100m with a month of school holidays still to go, but as it didn’t have IMAX and limited PLF screens this would be the equivalent of £120m+, showing again that films don’t need gimmicks to be successful as if it’s a film people want to see in the cinema, they will see it in the cinema.

After the opening of Barbie and Oppenheimer, there was the typical self-congratulation from many industry leaders and Francis Ford Coppola said “We’re on the verge of a Golden Age’ of cinema after ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’s success.”… “The fact that people are filling big theatres to see them and that they are neither sequels nor prequels, no number attached to them, meaning they are true one-offs, is a victory for cinema.”

The problem is industry leaders keep making statements like this without any evidence to back them up this comment was similar to Vue Cinema’s Tim Richards saying in October 2021 after the huge opening of No Time To Die the world is “about to embark on the second Golden Age of cinema”…. “So for the next 12-to-18 months we’re going to have almost three years of movies released, and it’s going to be extraordinary.”

While No Time To Die was a massive hit and Spider-Man No Way Home followed three months later it was another 5 months before Top Gun Maverick but then all the others up to Super Mario Bro in April all performed as expected or slightly less. The problem is apart from the 7 weeks between Doctor Strange 2 and Thor: Love and Thunder it’s been one film at a time which was never going to sustain the momentum needed since cinemas reopened.

As Barbie and Oppenheimer, Top Gun Maverick, Jurassic World Dominion and Minions: The Rise of Gru were films that played to different demographics and they also appealed to each other demographics so they would help each other find their audiences, the complete opposite with a comic-book movie or Star Wars films apart from The Force Awakens as they cannibalize the marketplace as they stop films opening week before and the week after. This was of course why Tenet was never going to be the film, Christopher Nolan expected it to be and was also probably one of the reasons why Warner dated Barbie against Oppenheimer.

The first Golden Age of cinema was between 1940 and 1956 when UK admissions were 1bn+ a year (more than current US yearly admissions) 1946 was their highest at 1.63bn. The UK [population in the 40s was a third less than today and people would go to the cinema about 40 times a year now its 2.5 times a year.

The second golden age of cinema was between 1985 and 2002 when admissions increased steadily y in the UK from 54m to 176m, if we are to have this second golden age of cinema then admissions should top 300m in the UK over the next decade as 35+ years ago 300m+ was the long-term hope admissions would get to. Admissions should have topped 200m 15+ years ago instead exhibitors saw the quicker way to boost BO was to increase ticket prices and have done so ever since. UK BO has increased 66% since 2002 (to 2019) and the average ticket price is up 65.7% £4.29 to £7.11 (2019).

Barbie: The Soundtrack has taken over the singles chart becoming the first film to have three top 5 songs for the first time with Billie Eilish’s What Was I Made For? #3, Dua Lipa’s Dance The Night #4 and #5 is a remake of Aqua’s Barbie World. Charli XCX’s Speed Drive, Ryan Gosling’s I’m Just Ken and Lizzo’s Pink are also in the top 40.

• 2. Oppenheimer – £8,222,657 – £27,657,601

Dropped 24.5% in the second weekend.

Took £2.2m Friday 26.7% (32.1% drop) £3.24m; £3.11m Saturday 39.4% (22.5% drop) £4m; £2.91m Sunday 35.4% (19.2%) £3.6m.

26^th biggest second weekend between Dunkirk and LOTR: The Two Towers (close to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, Toy Story 4, Marvel Avengers Assemble and The Jungle Book) and the 55^th biggest inflated between Love Actually and Mary Poppins Returns (close to The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Independence Day, Bridget Jones’s Diary and Spider-Man).

170^th biggest between Four Weddings and a Funeral and The Grinch (close to Life of Pi, Downton Abbey, Spider-Man and Elvis) and 357^th biggest inflated between Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted (close to Dances with Wolves, Airplane, Back To The Future Part III and Top Gun).

IMAX continued strongly In its second weekend taking about 15% with many shows at the BFI IMAX sold out which has seen IMAX extend Oppenheimer’s run for 4 weeks until Blue Beetle.

2010’s Inception dropped 29% £4,172,568 #2 from 456 screens and £14,204,521 of £35,264,403; dropped 22% in the third weekend £3,229,651; held #1 for 1 week and in the top 5 for 5 weeks and top 10 for 8 weeks.

2020’s Tenet dropped 59% £2,151,490 #1 from 613 screens and £10,006,540 of £17,479,421; dropped 42% in the third weekend taking £1,233,090 held #1 for 8 weeks and in the top 5 for 9 weeks and top 10 for 10 weeks

2017’s Dunkirk dropped 17% £8,235,532 from 663 screens and £27,017,724 of £56,797,955; dropped 43% in the third weekend taking £4,624,570 held #1 for 4 weeks and in the top 5 for 8 weeks and top 10 for 10 weeks.

2014’s Interstellar dropped 29% £3,777,804 from 576 screens and £12,131,990 of £20,852,599; dropped 49% in the third weekend taking £1,895,368 held #1 for 2 weeks and in the top 5 for 4 weeks and top 10 for 6 weeks.

Impossible to compare Oppenheimer with The Dark Knight Trilogy only that the films had similar holds #1 and stayed in the top 5 and top 10 for similar weeks having similar legs.

2005’s Batman Begins dropped 33% £2,926,042 from 516 screens and £9,388,835 of £16,733,960: #1 for 2 weeks, top 5 for 5 weeks and top 10 for 8 weeks.

2008’s The Dark Knight dropped 39% £6,737,306 from 510 screens and £25,374,829 of £49,411,323: #1 for 2 weeks, top 5 for 6 weeks and top 10 for 8 weeks.

2012’s The Dark Knight Rises dropped 49% £7,275,558 from 589 screens and £30,551,765 of £56,446,768: #1 for 2 weeks, top 5 for 6 weeks and top 10 for 8 weeks.

Christopher Nolan’s biggest hits came when they open in a crowded marketplace in 2010. Inception was #1 for one week replaced by Toy Story 3 in its second weekend but had very long legs playing into September. So, while Tenet was never going to be the saviour of cinema as he and exhibitors believed opening it the weekend after Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 and against Barbie would likely benefit it.

Exhibitors will be hoping Oppenheimer will have similar long legs to Inception playing in the top 10 for 8 weeks and Dunkirk for 10 weeks, rather than the 6 weeks Interstellar lasted, as the 100-day window will mean that it won’t be able to be released on VOD until at least Mid-October. While it will be interesting to see how exhibitors handle Oppenheimer after its opening three weeks as Christopher Nolan has given them everything, they wanted with the film the 100-day theatrical window so surely, they will need to play the film for 100 days?

Christopher Nolan’s films have taken almost £290m at the UK BO and £365m inflated

• 3. Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One – £1,831,384 – £20,314,208

Dropped 36.7% in the third weekend.

261^st biggest third weekend between 2012 and The Full Monty (close to Bad Boys For Life, Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, Saving Private Ryan and Blade Runner 2049) and 479^th biggest inflated between Red Dragon and Mr Peabody and Sherman (close to Licence to Kill, Rain Man, Jerry Maguire and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol).

2018’s Mission: Impossible Fallout dropped 17% £2,042,327 and £17,455,734 of £24,421,935; 6 weeks in top 10 and 13^th of the year between The Grinch and Darkest Hour

2015’s Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation dropped 34% £1,585,062 and £14,739,612 of £21,187,884; 7 weeks in the top 10 and 14^th biggest of the year between Cinderella and Big Hero 6

2011’s Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol dropped 38% £1,373,539 and £15,373,252 of £17,536,984; 5 weeks in the top 10 and 17^th biggest of the year between The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows

2006’s Mission Impossible 3 dropped 33% £1,840,168 and £12,618,529 of £15,342,575; 6 weeks in the top 10 and 10^th biggest of the year between Superman Returns and Happy Feet

2000s Mission Impossible 2 dropped 46% £1,336,195 #2 462 screens and £11,068,642 of £17,291,606; 8 weeks in the top 10 and 7th biggest of the year between Stuart Little and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

1996’s Mission Impossible dropped 47% £1,159,872 #1 415 screens and £11,040,816 of £18,351,333: 10 weeks in the top 10 and 5th biggest of the year between Seven and Twister.

5^th biggest Tom Cruise film between Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation and Minority Report; the 16^th biggest inflated between The Last Samurai and Cocktail (close to Jerry Maguire, A Few Good Men, Vanilla Sky and The Firm).

Tom Cruise’s last 37 films took £455m (£750m+ inflated) 20% from Top Gun: Maverick (£83.6m) while the 7 Mission Impossible films have taken £125m+ (£180m) combined.

281^st biggest between A Christmas Carol and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (close to Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves, Minority Report and The Flintstones) and 545^th biggest inflated between Unbreakable and Erin Brockovich (close to A Few Good Men, The Last Samurai, The Bourne Supremacy and Deep Impact).

• 4. Elemental – £1,172,116 – £11,814,343

Down 18% in the fourth weekend

As in the US despite having the 4^th lowest opening Elemental has had strong legs, it was helped by having its UK release delayed by three weeks from its US. This meant opening was only two weeks before the summer holidays allowing it to play well throughout the summer holidays and could take upwards of £20m.

255^th biggest fourth weekend between Dune and Ghost (close to Despicable Me, The Lion King (1994), Scooby Do and Early Man) and 478^th biggest inflated between The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 and The Princess And The Frog (close to Wayne’s World, While You Were Sleeping, Top Gun and Father of the Bride).  

60^th biggest animated fourth weekend between The Lion King (1994) and Early Man (close to Coco, Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Zootropolis and Moana) and 87^th biggest inflated between How To Train Your Dragon 2 and The Princess And The Frog (close to Beauty and the Beast (1992), Pocahontas, Ralph Breaks the Internet and Shaun The Sheep Movie).

566^th biggest between Jaws and A Quiet Place (close to Home Alone, Pretty Woman, Space Jam and Lost in Space) and 978^th biggest inflated between 28 Days Later and Noah (close to The Delinquents, Shaun of the Dead, Moonwalker and Days Of Thunder).

The 24 Pixar films that have had cinema releases have taken over £720m since 1996’s Toy Story and £1bn inflated.

103^rd biggest animated film between Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 and Over the Hedge (close to Lilo & Stitch, Space Jam: A New Legacy, Cars 3 and The Smurfs 2) and 132^nd biggest inflated between Open Season and Treasure Planet (close to The Jungle Book (1988 re-release), South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1992 Re) and Oliver & Company).

Next from Pixar is Elio in March 2024 and Inside Out 2 in June 2024, with one untitled film in 2025 and two untitled films in 2026 (at least one of them will likely be a sequel).

• 5.      Talk To Me £643,547 – NE

Took £185k Friday (28.8%); £198k Saturday (30.8%); £180k Sunday (28%)

Includes £80,528 from previews.

Talk to Me received positive reviews and has been called The Ring and Evil Dead for the TikTok generation and has also been comparable to horrors including Unfriended (opened £1,346,952 taking £3,303,969), White Noise (£1,787,478 taking £6,452,286), The Blair Witch Project, Ouija (£1,373,907 taking £3,207,638), The Host (£991,017 taking £3,403,823) and The Babadook (£347,512 #10 taking £1,191,222).

Talk to Me had the biggest opening for Altitude UK overtaking 2017’s Moonlight (£621,836 including £253,924 previews) but that opened in 85 screens while Talk to Me opened in 430.

Altitude cut a 12A trailer to play with both Barbie and Oppenheimer.

Horror has been one of the strongest-performing genres of films since cinemas reopened three years ago, with over 20 wide-released horrors including Evil Dead Rises, Scream VI, M3gan, The Menu, Smile, Nope, The Black Phone, Scream, Candyman, A Quiet Place Part II and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It taking over £100m. There are 6 more due for release this year Last Voyage of the Demeter, The Nun II, The Exorcist: Believer, Five Nights at Freddy’s, Saw X and Thanksgiving.

Talk To Me also opened #6 in the US this weekend taking $10.43m just behind Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One $10.6m.

A24 acquired US rights to the film at the Sundance Film Festival, Altitude acquired UK rights in May 2022.

The question for films like these is how they will hold in their second weekend as Talk To Me has generated strong word of mouth but with TNMT and The Meg 2 opening this weekend and BarOppy holding on to all of their screens Talk To Me will see its shows cutdown in its second weekend.

Films, like Talk To Me, need to be allowed to hold onto their screens longer as they aren’t films audiences will rush out to see over opening weekend and the problem is when they do want to see it they will be limited to a random show during the day.

UK box office in detail

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £26,586,491 down 25.1% from last weekend’s £35,475,322: 3,335,821 admissions down 25.1% from 4,451,107.

The third £20m+ top 10 of 2023 after last weekend and 07 April 2023 when Super Mario Bros opened; were 5 £20m+ weekends in 2022 (Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, Top Gun Maverick, Jurassic World: Dominion, Thor: Love And Thunder and Minions: The Rise Of Gru). 3 £20m+ in 2021 (two for No Time To Die and Spider-Man No Way Home). 1 in 2020 (Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker) and 8 in 2019 (Captain Marvel, Avengers Endgame x2 weeks, Aladdin, Toy Story 4, Spider-Man: Far From Home, The Lion King x2 weeks, Joker, Frozen 2 and Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker x2 weeks).

20^th biggest top 10 of the last 21 years (out of 1,113) between 26 October 2012 #1 Skyfall £20,180,369 (75.9% of top 10) and 27 January 2017 #1 Sing £10,487,380 (40.6% of top 10) and 61^st biggest inflation inflated between 27 December 2019 #1 Star Wars: The Rise Of Skywalker £9,311,240 (39.1% of top 10) and 12 June 2015 #1 Jurassic World £19,350,727 (80.6% of top 10).

The top 3 took (£23,280,889) 87.6% of the top 10; Barbie 49.75% (£13,226,848); Oppenheimer 30.93% (£8,222,657); Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 6.89% (£1,831,384)

261^st highest percentage (49.75%) between 28 October 2016 Doctor Strange (49.77%) and 31 December 2021 Spider-Man No Way Home (49.61%).

111^th biggest admissions #1 (1,659,579) between 10 October 2003 Finding Nemo (1,662,604) and 27 October 2017 Thor: Ragnarok (1,652,310).

Up 145.6% from 2022 (£10,826,088); DC League of Super-Pets (£2,694,626); #1 DC League of Super-Pets £2,694,626 1st week 665 screens (24.9% of top 10)

Up 159% from 2021; (£10,270,607); The Suicide Squad (£3,252,028); Jungle Cruise (£2,241,651); Spirit Untamed (£592,154); The Sparks Brothers (£123,005); #1 The Suicide Squad £3,252,028 1st week 635 screens (31.66% of top 10)

Up 3,978% from 2020 (£651,914); Unhinged (£175,263); 100% Wolf (£33,130); The Vigil (£30,302); Proxima (£30,051); Summerland (£15,792); Parasite: Black & White Edition (£8,546); Flash Gordon 40th Anniversary 4K Restoration (£5,816); #1 Unhinged £175,263 1st week 243 screens (26.88% of top 10)

Up 39.1% from 2019; (£19,106,503); Andre Rieu 2019 Maastricht Concert – Shall We Dance? (£1,492,154); The Current War (£454,677); The Intruder (£51,347); #1 The Lion King £10,660,287 2nd week 721 screens (55.8% of top 10)

Up 3.6% from 2018: (£25,665,576); Mission: Impossible Fallout (£7,300,103); Hotel Transylvania 3: A Monster Vacation (£3,449,876); Andre Rieu’s 2018 Maastricht Concert: Amore (£1,486,528); #1 Mission: Impossible Fallout £7,300,103 1st week 584 screens (28.4% of top 10)

Up 30.2% from 2017: (£20,414,621); Captain Underpants (£2,495,744); Girls Trip (£1,557,981); 47 Meters Down (£637,964); The Big Sick (£488,718); #1 Dunkirk £8,235,532 2nd week 663 screens (40.34% of top 10)

Up 13.5% from 2016: (£23,455,514); Finding Dory (£8,122,075); Jason Bourne (£7,600,420); World Cup ’66 – Minute by Minute (£35,959); League of Gods (£8,349); #1 Finding Dory £8,122,075 1st week 588 screens (34.6% of the top 10)

Up 93.6% from 2015; (£13,728,232); Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (£5,351,344); Hot Pursuit (£311,673); The Cobbler (£57,787); #1 Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation £5,351,344 £7,376,513 1st week 572 screens (38.9% of top 10)

Up 172.6% from 2014: (£9,750,537); Hercules (£1,449,120); The Purge: Anarchy (£1,165,143); Earth to Echo (£618,379); The House of Magic (£223,047); #1 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes £3,752,511 2nd week 574 screens 57% drop (38.5% of top 10)

Up 96.7% from 2013: (£13,514,255); The Wolverine (£4,694,092); Frances Ha (£150,689); #1 The Wolverine £4,694,092 1st week 522 screens (28.5% of top 10)

Up 118.7% from 2012 :(£12,156,512); Dr Seuss’ The Lorax (£1,853,294); Searching for Sugar Man (£68,857); #1 The Dark Knight Rises £7,275,558 2nd week 589 screens 49% drop (59.8% of top 10):

Up 83.4% from 2011; (£14,498,785); Captain America: The First Avenger (£2,981,590); Horrid Henry: The Movie (£1,290,308); The Zookeeper (£936,063); Arrietty (£75,584); #1 Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 £8,523,417 3rd week 576 screens 46% drop (31.5% of top 10)

Up 21.1% from 2010: (£21,956,519); Karate Kid (£4,882,306); The A-Team (£3,569,505); Gainsbourg (£135,031); #1 Toy Story 3 £8,115,193 2nd week 564 screens 62% drop (36.9% of top 10)

Up 114.1% from 2009; (£12,415,474); G-Force (£2,478,524); The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 (£1,784,719); Land of the Lost (£642,553); Coco Before Chanel (£423,268); Crossing Over (£3,214); #1 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince £2,917,786 3rd week 568 screens 44% drop (23.5% of top 10)

Up 40.6% from 2008; (£18,905,622); The Dark Knight (£11,191,824); Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging (£929,246); Baby Mama (£111,945); #1 The Dark Knight £11,191,824 1st week 502 screens (59.2% of top 10)

Down 5.2% from 2007: (£28,049,335); The Simpsons (£13,626,853); Transformers (£8,718,561); Sherrybaby (£36,036); Lonely Hearts (£3,362); #1 The Simpsons £13,626,853 1st week 499 screens (48.6% of top 10)

Up 162.7% from 2006; (£10,120,532); Cars (£2,668,968); Stay Alive (£140,126); #1 Cars £2,668,968 1st week 513 screens (26.37% of top 10)

Up 79.1% from 2005: (£14,849,850); Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (£7,972,168); #1 Fantastic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory £7,972,168 1st week (53.7% of top 10)

Up 238.7% from 2004 (£7,849,699); King Arthur (£1,908,084); Garfield (£1,147,437); The Stepford Wives (£946,787); New York Minute (£109,106); Anything Else (£39,149); #1 King Arthur £1,908,084 1st week 400 screens (24.31% of top 10)

Up 295.8% from 2003 (£6,716,741); Sinbad (£828,550); Agent Cody Banks (£534,312); Goodbye, Lenin! (£135,311) #1 The Hulk £1,384,426 2nd 500 screens 61% drop (20.6% of top 10)

Up 178.4% from 2002 (£9,549,998); Austin Powers in Goldmember (£5,585,978); The Crocodile Hunter (£266,803); Sunshine State (£25,888); #1 Austin Powers in Goldmember £5,585,978 1st week 446 screens (58.5% of top 10)

Up 277.1% from 2001 (£7,051,741); Swordfish (£1,615,206); Dr Dolittle 2 (£1,610,907); Intimacy (£54,288); #1 Jurassic Park 3 £1,802,580 2nd week 462 screens 62% drop (25.6% of top 10)

Next Week 2022 (£8,741,052); Bullet Train (£2,858,197); Westlife: Live From Wembley Stadium (£468,215); #1 Bullet Train £2,858,197 1^st week 609 screens (32.7% of top 10)

US Box Office

• Barbie – Warner Bros

Dropped 43% in the second weekend taking $93.01m and $351.41m

7^th biggest second weekend between The Avengers and The Super Mario Bros. Movie (close to Black Panther, Jurassic World, Beauty and the Beast and Top Gun: Maverick).

EntTelligence reported the average ticket price of Barbie $12.65 and Oppenheimer $13.65.

Part of the problem was there weren’t any comparable films for Barbie apart from 2014’s The Lego Movie opened $69.05m taking $257.96m and $468.26m WW. While other similar films took far less

2007’s Enchanted took $127.8m and $340.48m WW; 1998’s The Truman Show $125.61m and $264.11m WW; 2001’s Legally Blonde $96.52m and $141.77m WW and 2008’s The House Bunny $48.23m and $70.43m WW.

Others 1995’s Clueless took $56.63m; 2001’s Josie and the Pussycats $14.27m; 1997’s Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion $29.23m and 1998’s Pleasantville $40.58m.

What helped Barbenheimer is the audience of the two films are almost a mirror image of each other. Barbie’s audience is 66.2% female and 74.6% under 29, while Oppenheimer is 70.7% male and 52.9% over 30. The two films complimented each other Barbenheimer probably helped Oppenheimer far more than Barbie, as while Barbie’s audience also went to see Oppenheimer, not as many Oppenheimer probably went to see Barbie.

What will be interesting to see is lessons will be learnt from Barbenheimer studios realise two films playing to very different demographics can perform strongly, this, of course, was the case 30 years ago when studios would open films like Sleepless in Seattle the week after Jurassic Park and the two films would play strongly together.

The problem is MCU films cannibalize the market and when rival studios release films directly against them they struggle to find an audience. Saying that the last couple of MCU films haven’t opened as strongly as expected so there could have been room for another film targeting different demographics. As there is a crossover audience with Dune Part Two and The Marvels in November as both will play strongly to males over 29, but the female-led characters in The Marvels could crossover as Captain Marvel did to non-comic-book fans.

Barbie’s opening shows films don’t need IMAX or PLF to open big and exhibitors will have very mixed feelings having had the put their 100% support towards Christopher Nolan as he is giving them exactly what they claim to want but looking over at Dead Reckoning and Barbie at what they are missing out on as Dead Reckoning would have played more weeks in IMAX. It’s also audiences who are missing out on not being able to see it in IMAX beyond its opening weekend. But the problem is the delusions of grandeur from Christopher Nolan believing he is the Messiah of cinema, even though Super Mario Bros and Barbie will both take more than Oppenheimer.

In September 2021 it was announced Universal Pictures would release Christopher Nolan’s next film but it came with several demands from the director including a budget of $100m an equal marketing budget, a theatrical window of at least 100 days, 20% of the first-dollar gross, and Universal couldn’t release another film either three weeks before or after. (They released Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken is June 30th and the next is Last Voyage of the Demeter on August 11th).

This weekend was the 4^th biggest of all time, after 2019’s Avengers: Endgame ($402m; 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War ($314.8m) and 2015’s Star Wars: Force Awakens ($313.2m). The difference being these films were always expected to open as big as they did and they also took 90% of the BO while Barbie will take about 60% (of $308m) and is far healthier.

Barbie has blown away all the cobwebs of Warner Bros’ disappointing start of 2023 climbing from fifth to third biggest studio within a week; Universal $1.26bn; Disney $1.22bn; Warner $623.3m; Sony $592.9m; Paramount $557.9m.

While Oppenheimer took all IMAX and most PLF screens Barbie opened in many Dolby Vision screens, but Barbie didn’t need gimmick formats to get audiences into cinemas.

Took $122m (37% drop) from 69 territories and $423.1m and $774.5m worldwide (likely taking $1.2bn+); UK $61.6m; Mexico $41.4m; Brazil $33.5m; Australia $30.6m; China $25.2m; Germany $21.2m; France $21m; Italy $20.5m; Spain $18.7m.

• Oppenheimer – Universal Pictures 

Down 43% in the second weekend taking $46.7m and $174.56m

79^th biggest second weekend between Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Thor: Love and Thunder (close to The Incredibles, The Lego Movie, Gravity and Star Trek).

Inception #103 $42.72m; Interstellar #239 $28.3m; Batman Begins #252 $27.58m; Dunkirk #271 $26.61m while Skyfall #114 $41.1m; Logan #127 $38.11m; It Chapter Two #121 $39.6m; Titanic #143 $35.45m

Took 40%+ from IMAX/PLF

2020’s Tenet dropped 29.4% $6.6m and $29.09m of $58.5m and $365.3m WW; dropped 30.8% in the third weekend taking $4.56m; held #1 for 5 weeks and stayed in top 10 for 13 weeks.

2017’s Dunkirk dropped 47.3% $26.61m and $101.31m of $188.045m and $525.24m WW; dropped 36.5% in the third weekend taking $17.13m held #1 for 2 weeks and stayed in the top 10 for 9 weeks.

2014’s Interstellar dropped 40.4% $28.3m and $96.92m of $188.02m and $677.89m WW; dropped #3 behind Dumb and Dumber To and Big Hero 6 and dropped 45.8% in the third weekend taking $15.34m stayed in the top 10 for 6 weeks.

2010’s Inception dropped 32% $42.72m #1 and $142.88m of $292.57m and $825.79m WW; dropping 35.7% in the third weekend $27.48m held #1 for 3 weeks and staying in the top 10 for 11 weeks.

2008’s The Dark Knight dropped 52.5% $75.16m #1 and $313.78m of $533.34m and $1.003bn WW; dropped 43.2% in the third weekend $26.1m held #1 for 4 weeks and staying in the top 10 for 10 weeks.

2012’s The Dark Knight Rises dropped 61.4% $62.1m #1 and $287.12m of $448.13m and $1.081bn WW; dropped 42.5%

Variety estimated with its budget and marketing costs Oppenheimer will need to take at least $400m to make a profit; Christopher Nolan’s previous original films.

2020’s Tenet ($205m budget) took $58.5m in the US and $365.3m worldwide; 2017’s Dunkirk ($150m+ budget) took $189.74m in the US and $527m worldwide; 2014’s Interstellar ($165m+ budget) took $188m in the US and $773.43m worldwide; 2010’s Inception ($160m+ budget) took $292.58m in the US and $870.1m worldwide.

2014’s Interstellar opened with $82.9m from 62 territories (UK $9.05m 11% of opening) and $132.6m worldwide (opened in China the week after); Interstellar opened in the US with $52.2m from 5 days opened early in 250 screens in IMAX and 70mm taking $13.4m (25%) from IMAX and large format screens; male (52%) and 75% over 25.

2017’s Dunkirk opened with $55.4m from 46 territories and $105m worldwide; the UK was the biggest international territory taking $12.4m (22.4%) with IMAX taking 14% of its box office with the BFI IMAX the top IMAX cinema in the UK the spiritual home for Nolanites.

Took $72.4m (down 26.1%) from 78 territories $226.3m total and $400.4m worldwide (expected to take $700m+); UK $34.9m; Germany $17.8m; France $17.3m; Australia $13.4m; India $13m; Mexico $10.6m; Spain $9.3m.

Took $24m from 720 IMAX cinemas worldwide and $80.7m total (20.2%); IMAX has extended its run for 4 weeks.

• The Haunted Mansion – Disney

Opened with $24.08m; received mixed reviews (41% Rotten Tomatoes) and B+ CinemaScore.

Took $3.1m from Thursday midnights similar to Jungle Cruise ($2.7m) and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil ($2.3m).

Reimagination of the 2003’s The Haunted Mansion film based on the theme park ride opened with $24.27m taking $75.84m and $182.29m.

It was surprising Disney brought the release date forward from August 11^th to July 28^th in September 2022 as they had a successful opening of Christopher Robin in August 2018 opening $24.85m taking $99.21m and $197.74m.

Of course, when Disney moved the film to July 28^th no one knew Barbie was going to perform as it has done but it was still a strange decision to open it the week after as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem opening the week after is targeting male audience, while the horror aspect of the film do wonder why it wasn’t released ahead of Halloween. Several horror films are opening ahead of Halloween and they are all targeting older audiences.

It opened with $9.1m in 35 territories and $33.3m worldwide.  

• Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 – Paramount Pictures

Dropped 45% in the third weekend taking $10.6m and $139.1m

Dropped 1,130 screens.

604^th biggest third weekend between RED and Hop (close to G.I. Joe: Retaliation, San Andreas, The World Is Not Enough and The Hitman’s Bodyguard).

Mission: Impossible III #545 $11.34m; Mission: Impossible #321 $14.6m; Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation #235 $17.18m; Mission: Impossible II #234 $17.23m; Mission: Impossible – Fallout #179 $19.35m; Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol #64 $29.42m.

468^th biggest between The Santa Clause 2 and The King’s Speech; 953^rd biggest inflated between Bedtime Stories and Harlem Nights; 14^th biggest 2023 between Elemental and Scream VI; 61^st biggest Paramount film between Saturday Night Fever and The Godfather.

Third weekends

1996’s Mission Impossible dropped 32.2% $14.66m #1 and $130.82m of $180.98m

2000’s Mission Impossible II dropped 36.2% $17.23m #2 and $158.06m of $215.4m and $546.38m WW; 3^rd was against Gone in 60 Seconds $25.3m.

2006’s Mission Impossible III dropped 54.6% $11.34m #3 and $134.02m and $398.47m WW; 3^rd was against The Da Vinci Code $77.07m.

2011’s Mission: Impossible: Ghost Protocol dropped 0.5% $29.42m #1 and $132.4m and $694.71 WW; harder to compare as had an exclusive opening weekend in IMAX cinemas; stayed in the top 5 for 5 weeks.

2015’s Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation dropped 39.7% $17.18m #2 19and $138.32m of $195.04m and $682.71m WW; 3^rd was against Straight Outta Compton; stayed in the top 5 for 7 weeks

2018’s Mission Impossible: Fallout dropped 45.2% $19.35m and $161.31m of $220.15m and $791.1m WW; 3^rd was against The Meg $45.4m; stayed in top 5 for 6 weeks

Tom Cruise films have taken $5.3bn at the US box office since making his acting debut in 1981’s Endless Love and $12.66bn worldwide; 6 Mission Impossible films have taken $1.155bn in the US and $3.6bn worldwide.

Took $31.7m (42% drop) from 71 territories $307.78m total and $446.9m worldwide ($550m+ expected); China $45.7m; Korea $28m; UK $26.5m; France $17.5m; Japan $17.1m; India $14.7m; Australia $12.4m; Germany $10.2m.

291^st biggest worldwide between Tarzan and The Secret Life of Pets 2; 11^th biggest 2023 between Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and John Wick: Chapter 4; 34^th biggest Paramount film between Thor and Terminator: Genisys.

UK Box Office Top 10

UK Box Office Preview

Barbie and Oppenheimer will likely drop about 40% in their third weekend.

Barbie will hold #1 for a third weekend taking £6.5m-£7m similar to the third weekends of Jurassic World, The Jungle Book, Top Gun: Maverick and Toy Story 4.

After Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem opened on Monday taking £602k it will open similar to 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles £4.5m-£5m #2

It’s the seventh theatrical Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film since 1990, the first was released as Hero Turtles in the UK and is the second animated film after 2007’s TMNT opened £948,791 #2 taking £2,739,160 and Paramount’s third film after 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles opened £4,785,448 #1 taking £13,771,574 and 2016’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows opened £3,495,445 #2 taking £5,957,182.

1990’s Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles opened £769,000 (£2,630,442 inflated) taking £5,452,740 (£18,651,647 inflated)

1991’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 opened at £458,539 (£1,206,124 inflated) taking £2,250,201 (£5,918,846 inflated).

Oppenheimer drops down to third taking £4m-£5m similar to Quantum of Solace Dunkirk, Bohemian Rhapsody and 1917.

With The Meg 2: The Trench opening between £2m-£2.5m. 2018’s The Meg opened £3,651,111 taking £15,075,792, sequel’s marketing has been soft, but the advantage it does have is its trailer has been playing with all the summer films.  While footage screened at CinemaCon in April was well received, the start of the trailer sees a Meg killing a dinosaur 65 million years ago. So sounds like the perfect braindead popcorn film to watch after seeing Oppenheimer.

While many like to mock Jason Statham, his films are crowd pleasers (Fast & Furious, The Transporter, The Mechanic, The Expendables and Crank) many performed strongly in August ever since he starred in Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels 25 years ago (opened August 1998 with £941,638 taking £11,399,953).

Cinemagoers have always liked shark movies from Steven Spielberg’s classic Jaws to the more recent Deep Blue Sea opened £1,946,454 taking £8,087,585 and The Shallows The Shallows opened with £800,963 taking £1,723,386.

This weekend should be the third weekend in a row box office takes £20m+, the last time it happened was between 20 December 2019 and 3 January 2020 with Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker #1.

Opening in two weeks

• The Equalizer 3 – Sony Pictures

The action film starring Denzel Washington, Robert McCall. Dakota Fanning, David Denman, Sonia Ammar, and Remo Girone and directed by Antoine Fuqua. It is the sequel to the 2018 film The Equalizer 2 and will serve as the third and final instalment.

It’s the third and final instalment of the Equalizer trilogy loosely based on the TV series of the same name.

It’s the fifth film between Washington and Fuqua after 2002’s Training Day, 2014’s The Equalizer 2016’s The Magnificent Seven and 2018’s The Equalizer 2.

2002’s Training Day opened £739,718 #5 from 264 screens taking £1,942,439

2004’s Man On Fire opened £656,466 #6 from 297 screens taking £2,225,707

2014’s The Equalizer opened £1,890,146 #2 from 444 screens taking £6,669,034

2018’s The Equalizer 2 opened £1,980,754 #4 from 493 screens taking £7,247,966

• Cobweb – Lionsgate

Horror starring Lizzy Caplan, Woody Norman, Cleopatra Coleman and Antony Starr and directed by Samuel Bodin; the screenplay was on the 2018 Blacklist.

Had a limited release in the US in July and received mixed reviews and will likely struggle to find an audience in the UK.

• Sound Of Freedom – Angel Studios

Drama starring Jim Caviezel, Mira Sorvino, and Bill Camp and directed by Alejandro Monteverde.

The film was made in 2018 and was due to be released by 20th Century Fox but after the studio was brought by Disney the producers brought the rights back for the film and Angel Studios acquired world rights and used crowdfunding to pay for marketing and distribution costs encouraging audiences to pay it forward to get people who might have not seen the film in cinemas for free.

Sound of Freedom was expected to open with $11m-$15m but opened with $21.3m over 5 days despite playing in far fewer cinemas than all the other major films on release. They also had a website live tracking ticket sales and have currently sold over 12m tickets. It has taken $157.4m in the US the 12^th biggest 2023 between Creed III and Fast X.

Soon after opening it had a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score, this has since dropped to 93% and received A+ CinemaScore. Faith-based films have been very lucrative in the US as they are often low-budget and attract audiences by word of mouth without needing expensive marketing budgets, but they don’t travel well outside the US. Over the last decade, Sony Pictures have had a lot of success with films made by Affirm including Heaven is for Real, Miracles from Heaven, and War Room.

While the film was a huge hit in the US opening in July it will struggle to find an audience in the UK.