Movie

Greta Gerwig's fantasy comedy enjoys the seventh-biggest second weekend in history after dropping just 43 percent from its debut weekend with an addition of approximately $93 million.

• Jul 31, 2023

AceShowbiz - "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" continue to rule box office in their second weekend. The two movies, which were released simultaneously on July 21 and have proven to be a major boost the industry needed amid the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, are unmoved at the top two spots of the North American chart.

Greta Gerwig's cotton candy-colored fantasy comedy leads the chart for the second week in a row with an estimated $93 million between Friday and Sunday. Ticket sales declined just 43% from its debut weekend, resulting in the seventh-biggest second weekend in history.

The only movies that enjoyed bigger sophomore outing tallies were billion-dollar behemoths "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" ($149 million), "Avengers: Endgame" ($147 million), "Avengers: Infinity War" ($114 million), "Black Panther" ($111 million), "Jurassic World" ($106 million) and "The Avengers" ($103 million).

Christopher Nolan's biographical thriller, meanwhile, maintains its runner-up position with an estimated $46.2 million. According to Universal, it became the first R-rated film to gross more than $10 million for seven days in a row on Friday. The streak has since extended to 10 days through the weekend with its total domestic gross now reaching $351.4 million.

"Weekend two proves the outpouring of interest in 'Barbie' and 'Oppenheimer' a week ago was not a fluke," says Paul Dergarabedian, a senior Comscore analyst. "Both films put up second weekend numbers that would have been considered solid as debuts and reflect two of the best sophomore session holds in box office history."

"Having two movies from rival studios linked in this way and both boosting each other's fortunes - both box-office wise and it terms of their profile - I don't know if there's a comp for this in the annals of box-office history," Dergarabedian adds. "There's really no comparison for this."

The collective force of "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" is so strong that it's unshaken by newcomer "Haunted Mansion" from Disney. The supernatural horror comedy film lands at the third spot with an estimated $24.2 million, slightly below industry expectations of around $25-30 million.

A reboot adaptation based on Disneyland's attraction, it boasts a star-studded cast that includes LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rosario Dawson, Dan Levy, Jamie Lee Curtis and Jared Leto.

The movie, however, was met with underwhelming response from critics as it scored an average rating of 5.4/10 on Rotten Tomatoes, with 42% of 162 critics' reviews being positive. Audiences were nicer though, as they gave an average grade of "B+" based on surveys by CinemaScore and an 80% overall positive score at PostTrak.

"Sound of Freedom" slips one position to the fourth place with approximately $12.4 million, followed by "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" that rounds out the top five with an estimated addition of $10.7 million.

Top 10 of North America Box Office (July 28-30, 2023):

1. "Barbie" - $93 million
2. "Oppenheimer" - $46.2 million
3. "Haunted Mansion" - $24.2 million
4. "Sound of Freedom" - $12.4 million
5. "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One" - $10.7 million
6. "Talk to Me" - $10 million
7. "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" - $4 million
8. "Elemental" - $3.4 million
9. "Insidious: The Red Door" - $3.2 million
10. "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse" - $1.4 million