How high will 'Barbie' go?

And the 'Oppenheimer' reviews are in

What to know

• How high will Barbie go?… Barbie is going to be a big hit, and I think we might be underestimating just how huge it’s going to be. The trades will tell you it’s eyeing a $110M opening weekend, but the reviews came out last night and are overwhelmingly positive, giving it a 90% on RottenTomatoes as of Wednesday morning. In fact, Barbie has the best ticket pre-sales since Avatar: Way of Water. According to a survey run by film research firm The Quorum and reported on The Town podcast, 20% of people who intend to see Barbie this weekend have not been back to movie theaters since the pandemic or can’t recall the last time they saw a movie in theaters. That’s huge interest from the masses! I think the most appropriate recent comparison is The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Both are based on brands people love, but feel fresh because they aren’t the 12th sequel to something. Mario did $146M its opening weekend, but Barbie has the advantage of appealing to adults (specifically women) and kids. I think it gets to $150M easy. 💄

Upgrade to a full Pop Culture Brain Daily subscription for $1/month or $6/year.