At US Theaters, 'Babenhaimer' Again Tops 1st and 2nd Place... "Biggest Hit of This Summer"

The so-called 'Babenheimer' craze shows no signs of cooling down. Hollywood films Barbie and Oppenheimer continue to perform well at the box office even a week after their release.

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

According to AP News and Variety on the 30th (local time), Greta Gerwig's film Barbie earned $162 million during its opening weekend on the 21st, followed by $93 million in its second weekend. Although this represents a 43% drop compared to the first weekend, it is the seventh-best second weekend performance ever. The cumulative revenue in the North American region has reached $351.4 million. AP News reported that Barbie is earning at least $20 million daily and is expected to become the biggest summer box office hit. Globally, it is estimated to have earned over $750 million.

Christopher Nolan's new film Oppenheimer, which was released alongside Barbie, also earned $46.2 million in its second weekend, ranking second at the box office. Despite its R rating, which limits the audience, people continue to flock to see the film. Its cumulative revenue so far is $174.1 million. Including overseas markets, it has already surpassed $400 million. This exceeds the total earnings of Nolan's previous works Tenet ($365 million) and Batman Begins ($373 million).

Paul Dergarabedian, senior analyst at Comscore and a box office expert, said, "The second weekend figures prove that the interest in Barbie and Oppenheimer a week ago was not a fluke," and evaluated that "they set solid second weekend records." Barbie, a film adaptation of Mattel's iconic doll series, and Oppenheimer, a biographical film about the American atomic bomb developer, are distinctly different in nature, but the so-called Babenheimer 'meme' trend ahead of their simultaneous release has drawn even more attention.

Meanwhile, Walt Disney's The Haunted Mansion earned $24.6 million from 3,700 theaters in North America, ranking third. Globally, it recorded $33 million. The low-budget film Talk to Me earned $10 million, and Sound of Freedom, in its fifth week, earned $13.6 million. Mission: Impossible, starring Tom Cruise, ranked fifth in North America with $10.7 million.