Undoubtedly, two of the most anticipated films of the year, Barbie and Oppenheimer released in cinemas across India on July 21, 2023 and are now ruling the Box-Office in India & Worldwide. From Kashmir to Kanyakumari, Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh, both films have received a massive response from both critics and audiences and are now setting the box office on fire across the country.
Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon & Florence Pugh has had a Record-Breaking Opening Weekend with a Box office collection of Rs.60 crores (Gross) across 1923 screens (including all IMAX screens). It is the highest opening weekend ever for a Christopher Nolan film and a Non-Franchise Hollywood film. It also is the highest opening weekend for a Hollywood movie on Imax screens & the highest opening weekend (Friday to Sunday) for a Hollywood film in 2023. Internationally, India is the 3rd highest in the world following only the US & the UK markets .
Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie & Ryan Gosling has had an excellent Opening Weekend of Rs.21 Crores (Gross) on 868 screens which is the widest release for an English version only film. It is Warner Bros’ biggest Opening Weekend for 2023 after The Flash and 3rd biggest opening weekend for a Female directed Hollywood after Frozen II.
Oppenheimer with its huge following for its beloved director, Christopher Nolan; and Barbie which has been a cultural phenomenon in recent months has brought audiences in droves to the cinemas which has been a big boost for the exhibition industry in India. Many cinemas have reported about audiences booking tickets for both films on the same day or the same weekend in a celebration of the great cinematic experience! Incidentally, both films have been released by Warner Bros. Discovery in India. Speaking on the momentous occasion where two Hollywood films dominated the Box office in India, Denzil Dias, VP & Managing Director, India Theatrical, Warner Bros. Discovery said, “We are beyond thrilled with the box office numbers of both ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Barbie’ at the India Box office and are delighted to see the Indian audiences throng the cinemas to watch these films of completely different genres. While we knew that Christopher Nolan has a huge fanbase in India, ‘Oppenheimer’ has outperformed by becoming the biggest opening for a Nolan film ever!
In a market dominated typically by Action-event films or Superhero films, ‘Barbie’ has defied odds with its Box office collections to become the 2nd biggest Opening ever for a Hollywood female-oriented film.
The success of both films on the same weekend is a very encouraging sign for the Cinema business in India which clearly shows that the audiences will come in droves for quality content.”
Ashish Saksena, COO – Cinemas, BookMyShow, said, “With Oppenheimer and Barbie finally releasing across screens nationwide, it’s been a clash of the titans at the box office with both films exhibiting sheer cinematic brilliance and fans flocking to theatres for the big screen extravaganza.
With 1.4 million tickets booked for Oppenheimer on BookMyShow so far, there has been a strong platform contribution of 74% to the overall box office revenue collection for the film while over 500,000 tickets have been sold for Barbie with an equally mammoth contribution of 70% by BookMyShow to the overall box office revenue collection for India, both films are off to a skyrocketing start right off the bat.
Cities like Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Chennai continue to lead in ticket sales on BookMyShow, while cinephiles across India have been showing mammoth interest for both films, where cities like Pune, Kochi and Ahmedabad are in the lead when it comes to non-metros. The absolute excitement to catch these films on the big screen and in the most immersive format of IMAX is also evident in non-typical show timings of 12 AM and even 3 AM shows running packed on BookMyShow!
Interestingly, both films have attracted a significant number of cinephiles booking tickets for both, despite their contrasting themes and a substantial portion of the audience has planned their watching schedule for both movies on the same day! The prospects for these two films seem very promising over the course of the next week, riding on massive hype as they are expected to draw hordes of audiences to theatres across different formats, providing the ultimate big-screen experience.”
