'Barbie' crosses $1B mark, topping 'Meg 2' to lead movies for third weekend
Hector Vivas/Getty Images Entertainment
Ken's OK -- but a Billy is better, in Barbie's world.
Barbie (NASDAQ:WBD), the big-screen adventure based on the iconic Mattel (NASDAQ:MAT) doll, led the domestic movie box office for the third straight weekend, and in the process crossed the $1B mark in cumulative worldwide grosses after 17 days on screen.
The pastel picture lost just 43% of its business week-over-week, a strong third-week hold, to gross $53M in home markets, Comscore reported. That added up to a cumulative domestic total of $459.4M, with another $572.1M from international markets.
Barbie is now 2023's No. 2 film both domestically and on a worldwide basis -- in each case, behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie (NASDAQ:CMCSA), with $574.2M and $1.352B respectively. It's also the first film directed solely by a woman to gross more than $1B globally.
Meanwhile, out of two new weekend openers, it was Meg 2: The Trench (WBD) that broke the "Barbenheimer" logjam, drawing $30M to finish in second place at home, and bump Oppenheimer (CMCSA) to third place with $28.7M.
The shark-action thriller also drew the biggest overall international take for the weekend ($112M to Barbie's $74M), making it also the top worldwide draw ($142M to Barbie's weekend $127M) despite some lackluster critical reaction.
That left an also-solid performance from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (NASDAQ:PARA) (PARAA), a new entry in a decades-old franchise that ended up with $28M, good enough for the No. 4 spot behind Oppenheimer -- but ahead of Disney's (DIS) more disappointing Haunted Mansion, which tumbled 63% week-over-week to gross just $9M.
TMNT: Mutant Mayhem opened on Wednesday, and counting its first five days, added up $43M. All in all, a strong top four meant a good weekend for movie theaters, with collective domestic grosses of $176.4M -- meaning that year-to-date industrywide domestic box office of $6.1B is up 23% year-over-year, Comscore noted.
While Barbie (WBD) has the headlines, Oppenheimer (CMCSA) is no slouch: It's reached a total of $228.6M domestically and $552.9M on a worldwide basis -- the sixth film from director Christopher Nolan to reach a half-billion dollars in worldwide grosses. It's the No. 7 movie of 2023 both domestically and worldwide now.
Cinema tickers: AMC Entertainment (AMC); Cineworld (OTCPK:CNNWQ); Cinemark (CNK); (IMAX); Marcus (MCS); Reading International (RDI); Cineplex (CGX:CA); National CineMedia (NCMI).
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