Entertainment - Media News Watch originally published at Entertainment - Media News Watch
This weekend was one of those weekends that I loved doing my job. This weekend was one of those weekends where I absolutely loved what I do. It was historic in every way. Two tentpole sized movies compete, but instead of one being hailed as the winner and the other as the loser, both go down in the history books as success stories. This weekend was a true testament to the power of movies. It was a weekend that truly represented the power of movies. This weekend, it felt like an era long gone when people would queue up around the block for tickets to a highly-anticipated new movie.
Sure we’ve seen some massive movies in the past.
Avatar – The Way of Water
is only a little over a year old, but it is already the third highest grossing film of all time worldwide. In December 2021 we saw Spiderman: No Way Home-absolutely smash it with a 260.1 million opening weekend. This weekend was different. It felt like a cultural landmark that will be remembered in years, perhaps even decades. I can picture it now, I will be sitting down to read my grandchild a bed time story in our house on Mars and as I close the book, he or she will look at me and ask “Grandpa, did you go see Barbenheimer on opening weekend?” And I will proudly say “Yes child, I sure did” before my hologram disappears.So, let’s start at the top: Greta Gerwig’s Barbie
easily claimed the top of the charts with a reported $155 million, exactly $85 million more than Warner Bros was predicting for the film on Thursday, and $40 million more than what we predicted. To put that into even more perspective, Transformers, another property based on a popular toy line, opened with $70.5 million back in 2007, which in 2023 dollars would be a little under $104 million. Warner Bros desperately needed this kind of win after a few bad years after David Zaslav became the CEO. The company’s worst headlines came last month, when The flash bombed beyond everyone’s expectations. Of course, Warner Bros being Warner Bros wanted to balance out the good headlines of Barbie’s opening with the headlines that they are considering pushing the remainder of their 2023 slate to 2024, which would delay the highly anticipated Dune 2. Greta Gerwig now has the highest opening weekend for a female filmmaker, surpassing the co-directed effort by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck on Captain M. ($153 million) as well as Patty Jenkins’ solo directing record for
Wonder Women 0100 It also beat out The Super Mario Bros. Movie for biggest opening weekend of the season. You can read Chris Bumbray’s 7/10 review here. Check out Chris Bumbray’s 7/10 review. Nolan’s name is known to draw people to the theaters but I don’t think anyone expected a 3-hour-long drama with only one action scene, rated R, to do as well as it did. Is the Barbenheimer effect a real thing? Was the combination of a light-hearted glamorous comedy and a darker moody dramatic film too much for moviegoers to resist? It’s possible, but I think it helps that Oppenheimer- is one of the greatest films ever made, not just this year, but possibly ever. The film could have been just the two hours before the Trinity test, and it would have still been a great experience. But for me, the last hour is what made the film a masterpiece. To the Academy voters, who all obviously read our box office reports every week, when it comes time for your nominations, make sure Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr and Emily Blunt are all on your lists, as well as Christopher Nolan (and to bring Barbie into the mix, don’t forget Ryan Gosling, because that was one of the best comedic performances I have ever seen, while I’m sure that film’s Production Design will easily nab a nomination and probably the win. I’m sure Gerwig will be mentioned in the discussion for Director, and I wouldn’t surprise if a screenplay was nominated. You can expect Oppenheimer to have a solid run at the box office, as it will remain on Imax screens at least for the next three weeks. Critics and audiences alike agree that this is one of best films of the season (94% on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 94% score from Check out Eric Walkuski’s 8/10 review. I don’t believe this is an example of a bad movie, because it’s not! It is one of the best recent action movies, and has received great reviews (96% according to Rotten Tomatoes), as well as a great response from those who paid to see it (94 % Audience Score and an A cinemascore). I think it was just an insanely busy weekend, where the top two movies were not just big movies but events. I still believe that
Dead Reconing Part One will eventually even out and have decent numbers. But, the $300 million budget will weigh this film down. Dead Reckoning Part Two is currently slated to hit theaters on June 28, 2024, which puts it in prime position for a solid Independence Day run, with currently only Despicable Me 4 and Mufasa: The Lion King expected to open the week after, so it should have a better runway for success than Part One did.The other major story of the summer is the massive success of the independent film Sound of Freedom which leap frogged Dead Reckoning this weekend to take the third place spot with an additional $20.1 million and a domestic total of $124.7 million. I don’t personally know anyone who has seen this movie, but it seems to have its fans who are showing their appreciation with their wallets. The remainder of the box office this week are your summer holdovers such as Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
($6.7 million), Insidious: The Red Door ($6.5 million), Elemental ($5.8 million), Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse ($2.8 million), Transformers: Rise of the Beasts ($1.1 million) and No Hard Feelings ($1.07 million).Were you one of the reported 18.5 million people who saw Barbie and Oppenheimer
this weekend? You were one of the reported 18.5 million people who saw Barbie and Oppenheimer-this weekend?
Entertainment - Media News Watch originally published at Entertainment - Media News Watch
