'Barbie' and 'Oppy' feast

And others famine

What to know

• Barbie and Oppenheimer deliver 4th biggest box office weekend of all time… If you build exciting movies, and market the shit out of them, audiences will come. That’s the lesson of “Barbenheimer,” a true rising-tides-life-all-boats phenomenon — and a cultural moment we likely won’t see again for some time. Greta Gerwig’s subversive toy movie smashed to a recording-breaking $162M domestic ($356M global), while Christopher Nolan’s brainy bio epic exploded to a shocking $82M domestic ($180M global). The latter is especially impressive considering its length, rating, and subject matter. I believe having Barbie vastly increased Oppenheimer’s profile.

  Here are the Barbie records broken: Gerwig had the biggest opening for a woman director ever, the biggest 2023 opening, the biggest non-sequel, non-remake, and non-superhero opening ever, the biggest toy movie opening ever, Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie’s biggest debuts, and the biggest opening of a movie not being shown on any IMAX screens. Speaking of IMAX, it made up 20% of Oppenheimer’s sales and was the biggest IMAX opening for a Nolan movie, the biggest IMAX opening in July ever, and the biggest IMAX opening this year.

  
  Variety is already thinking Oscars for Oppenheimer. Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. should definitely be nominated, as should Nolan for directing. But I also think Margot Robbie (lead) and Ryan Gosling (supporting) should be in conversation as well, plus Gerwig for writing. All in all, it was really exciting being back in theaters with that many people this weekend. Even if the disparate vibe between Barbies and Oppies was significant. 💄💣

• It’s box office woes for everything not named Barbie and Oppenheimer… Those two sucked all the air out of the room. Mission: Impossible 7 saw a franchise-worst drop off this weekend, fulfilling exactly what Tom Cruise was worried about. Indiana Jones 5 might be Disney’s biggest disaster since John Carter. What a massive miscalculation that was. And Blue Beetle, DC’s next superhero movie that has no marketable stars, is tracking for $17M at most. Yikes. 🫠

• Joker 2 cinematographer says he never met the real Lady Gaga on set, called her “Lee” while filming… I did not have Gaga going full method on my 2023 bingo card, but maybe I should have — especially on this movie. “Lee” as in HarLEY Quinn? Probably. 🤡

• America Ferrera shot her big Barbie monologue up to 50 times… It’s one of the big standout moments from the movie, in a “can’t believe they’re doing this” kind of way, so it makes sense that Gerwig and Ferrera would push to get it right. 👏

• Dwayne Johnson gave a “historic” contribution to the SAG-AFTRA Foundation relief fund… After getting $50M for Red One, I’m glad he did this. 💰

• Real “Barbenheimer” occurs in India as Barbie subtitles play during Oppenheimer… Come on Oppy, let’s go party. 💣

• DC is making an animated Watchmen feature… I’m kind of into this and think it could be good if faithful. 🦑

• Twitter really is rebranding to X… In the history of dumb decisions, this might be the dumbest. 🐦

• Samuel L. Jackson is reportedly in Tarantino’s The Movie Critic… No mother effin’ surprises there. 📝

• New York, New York to close on Broadway… Speaking of feast or famine. 🎭

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What’s new

• The Haunted Mansion — July 28 | Family horror comedy in theaters | 🍅

• Talk to Me — July 28 | A24 horror movie in theaters | 🍅 96%

• The Beanie Bubble — July 28 | Apple TV+ comedy film | 🍅 74%

• Returning: Futurama s11, The Hardy Boys s3, The Witcher s3, Harley Quinn s4, Good Omens s2, This Fool s2, Heels s2, How To With John Wilson s3

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What to watch

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July 24, 2023

For all past ‘what to watch’ recommendations, see the full list here!