‘Barbie’ Overtakes ‘Super Mario Bros.’ As No. 1 Film Of 2023 WW; ‘Oppenheimer’ Passing $850M To Top ‘Inception’ As Christopher Nolan’s 3rd Biggest Movie Ever

The two seemingly unstoppable phenoms of summer 2023 are each setting new milestones this weekend as Greta Gerwig’s Barbie through Friday has become the No.1 film of the year globally, overtaking The Super Mario Bros Movie with $1.365B. In the same breath, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer this frame is continuing its incredible run with the Universal title set to pass $850M globally through Sunday. This will see it surpass the filmmaker’s 2010 Inception as his 3rd highest-grossing title ever worldwide.

From Warner Bros, Barbie is playing in 75 overseas markets and through Friday has grossed $763.4M at the international box office. The living doll’s Top 5 offshore plays through yesterday are the UK ($117.8M), Australia ($54.1M), Mexico ($54.1M), Germany ($53.8M) and France ($46M). 

Meanwhile, on its 7th weekend in release, Oppenheimer is due to surpass Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 as the No. 3 movie of 2023 globally, coming in behind just Barbie and Super Mario. Of Nolan’s oeuvre, it is  only now below The Dark Knight Rises and The Dark Knight.

The ascension of Oppenheimer gives Universal three of the Top 5 films this year globally to date.

Looking at estimates for the full weekend at the international box office, Oppenheimer is expected to earn $49M, lifting the offshore cume to $542M. The Cillian Murphy-starrer is the 4^th biggest Hollywood film of 2023 overseas and Nolan’s best in 58 markets.

Through Friday, its offshore gross is $513.9M for $816.9M global. The Top 5 overseas hubs through yesterday are the UK ($69.7M), Germany ($44.6M), France ($38.7M), Australia ($24.8M) and Spain ($20.3M).

Notably, China opened to No. 1 on Wednesday this week and has held that position throughout the following days. The film has a terrific 9.5 score with audiences on Maoyan, and through Saturday is estimated at $23M (not included in the totals above). This is over double Inception at the same point (+144%, Wednesday opener), in line with the Wed-Sat gross of Interstellar (-5%), 20% above the Fri-Sat gross of Tenet, and 23% above the Fri-Sat gross of Dunkirk.

Maoyan over the past few days has upped its final projection for the film’s full run, today landing at roughly $64M. However, caution should prevail as these numbers tend to shift.

More to come on Sunday…