The buzz around this is crazy. 80M is lowballing imo.
Damn, I really wouldn’t have thought that Oppenheimer got so much less in comparison, to be honest, less at all…
Nolan’s films have always been a bit niche(Batman excepted). Regular people don’t go to the movies to feel conflicted or depressed. Barbie seems to be more targeted towards a general audience, it’s more positive(at least on the surface), features actors and IP people recognize, and seems to have tapped into the zeitgeist. Regardless, 40M opening weekend is still pretty good. So don’t think of it as a competition, think of it as two auteur films succeeding, which is awesome for all fans of theaters!
Nolan’s films have always been a bit niche
What? I genuinely really can’t relate. I mean, for me personally Nolan is what cinema is supposed to be like, it’s epicness, the grandness, etc. But he’s highly successful, just look at Inception, Interstellar, Batman, and also Dunkirk and Memento to a lesser degree. Like I would say he’s one of the most mainstream / successful movie people.
I completely agree 80m is lowballing. Looking at how well the Super Mario movie did, I could see Barbie opening a lot higher. Oppenheimer looks fantastic for sure, but I think most audiences aren’t going out for a 3 hour historical biopic, even if it Christopher Nolan. Every other movie is bombing right now. The schedule looks like these 2 are the only thing worth a damn for 2 solid weeks until TMNT August 2. Everything is working in Barbies favor to be a mega hit, now it just has to be good.