#BoxOfficeCollection: Fewer takers for 'Barbie'; opens at Rs. 5 crore
What's the story
Cinephiles were in for a treat when two of the much-awaited films clashed at the box office on Friday. Filmmaker Greta Gerwig's Barbie opened against Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer in what is being considered the biggest movie clash of 2023 so far. Going by the box office numbers, Barbie reportedly delivered a decent performance in India but was ultimately beaten by Oppenheimer.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Directed by Gerwig, Barbie stars Margot Robbie as the titular plastic doll while Ryan Gosling joins her as Barbie's boyfriend, Ken. The film has brought the Barbie doll and her plastic world to life beautifully. Other than Robbie and Gosling, it also featured Issa Rae, Simu Liu, Kate McKinnon, America Ferrera, Dua Lipa, Michael Cera, Alexandra Shipp, Scott Evans, and Will Ferrell, among others.
Box office day 1
Barbie got over 41% occupancy in English shows
As per industry tracker Sacnilk, Barbie saw a nett collection of Rs. 5 crore (early estimates) in India on its opening day. The film was reportedly able to sell about 16,000 tickets in advance booking across three popular multiplex chains, PVR, INOX, and Cinepolis, for Friday. It registered an occupancy of 41.61% for English shows in the theaters, said a report by Sacnilk.
'Barbie' v/s 'Oppenheimer'
'Barbie' or Oppenheimer', which film performed better?
As per the box office collections in India, Barbie was beaten by Oppenheimer by a huge margin, with the latter's collections being more than double Barbie's earnings. The latter collected Rs. 13.5 crore on its opening day, while Barbie was limited to Rs. 5 crore, said reports. Clearly, in India, audiences have so far preferred to watch Nolan's biopic film over Gerwig's fantasy comedy.
Global collections
'Barbie' collects $22M in US previews
In the United States, the domestic box office for Hollywood films, Barbie reportedly earned $22.3M through its preview shows on Thursday. This is the highest preview collection by any Hollywood film this year, said reports. Barbie is expected to rake in $110M over the weekend in the US. Interestingly, it performed better than Oppenheimer in the US, as Nolan's film collected $10.5M in previews.