Barbie vs Oppenheimer latest: Greta Gerwig explains Barbie’s ending after record-breaking box office debut

Gerwig broke the domestic box office record for female director with ‘Barbie’ debut

Barbie cast turn London Eye pink to celebrate film premiere

Greta Gerwig has broken the domestic box office record for a female director, with Barbie debuting at $155m in North America and $337m globally.

The film surpassed the $103.3m domestic opening of Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman and the $153m weekend opening of 2019’s Captain Marvel, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Cinemas around the world were busier than ever over the weekend, thanks to the simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer, with excitement for Gerwig and Christopher Nolan’s respective blockbusters going into overdrive.

While Oppenheimer’s critical ratings have blown past Barbie with a near-perfect Rotten Tomato score, the latter, which stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, has surpassed the Cillian Murphy-starring biopic’s box office takings.

In a new interview with The Independent, Nolan described Oppenheimer as “the biggest film I’ve made”. Murphy admitted to struggling to watch the film due to seeing his face projected on the screen, but acknowledged that the film is “designed” to be “watched with an audience”.

Meanwhile, Gerwig has spoken about her film’s “mic drop” ending, after breaking the record for the biggest box office debut by a female director.

Key points

• ‘Life in plastic, it’s fantastic!’: Barbie gets five stars from The Independent
• Read The Independent’s four-star review of Oppenheimer
• Mission: Impossible struggles at box office against record-breaking might of Barbenheimer
• Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy on Oppenheimer: ‘Taking that risk on behalf of us all – there’s nothing bigger than that’
• Oppenheimer’s women: the true story of the brilliant, complicated female figures behind the famed physicist

[25 July 2023 13:30 · Peony Hirwani]

Piers Morgan ridiculed for saying he’d be ‘executed’ if he made ‘male version’ of Barbie

TV host Piers Morgan has been mocked for his criticism of Barbie, after he claimed he would be “executed” if he made an equivalent film for men.

The former Good Morning Britain presenter, who currently fronts his own TalkTV show, Piers Morgan Uncensored, shared his thoughts on the film in an op-ed for the New York Post.

[25 July 2023 13:00 · Peony Hirwani]

Hollyoaks fans stunned to see familiar face in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer: ‘Absolutely did not expect that’

Hollyoaks fans were stunned to see a familiar face in Oppenheimer.

[25 July 2023 12:30 · Peony Hirwani]

America Ferrera reveals key Barbie scene took up to 50 takes to film

Barbie star America Ferrera has revealed that her big monologue took between 30 and 50 takes to film.

The 39-year-old actor plays Gloria, a human woman, in the hit film adapted from the well-known Mattel doll franchise.

In the scene in question, Gloria delivers a speech to a group of onlookers – including Margot Robbie’s Barbie – in which she addresses the double standards and contradictory expectations imposed on women in a patriarchal society.

[25 July 2023 12:00 · Peony Hirwani]

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie breaks a box office record for female directors

Barbie didn’t just break the opening weekend record for 2023... it also shattered the first weekend record for a film directed by a woman.

With $162m in ticket sales from North American theaters, according to studio totals Monday, Barbie catapulted past both Captain Marvel, which was co-directed by Anna Boden and opened to $153.4m in 2019, and Wonder Woman, Patty Jenkins’ 2017 film that debuted to $103.3 million.

[25 July 2023 11:30 · Peony Hirwani]

Amy Schumer says she should have played Emily Blunt’s role in Oppenheimer

Amy Schumer has joked that she should’ve played Emily Blunt’s role in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.

Blunt was cast as Kitty, the wife of nuclear scientist J Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) in the film.

In an Instagram post on Monday (24 July), Schumer wrote that she “enjoyed [watching] Barbie and Oppenheimer but I think I should have played Emily Blunt’s role”.

[25 July 2023 11:00 · Peony Hirwani]

Mission: Impossible struggles at box office against record-breaking might of Barbenheimer

Tom Cruise seems to be facing his very own Mission: Impossible as the latest movie in the action franchise, Dead Reckoning, continues to struggle at the box office against the dual releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer.

In its second weekend, Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One fell by 64 per cent to $19.5m (£15m) when going up against Barbie and Oppenheimer.

[25 July 2023 10:30 · Peony Hirwani]

Ruth Handler: The Barbie inventor who revolutionalised prosthetic breasts and narrowly avoided prison

After giving birth to two children – Barbara and Kenneth – a Los Angeles businesswoman got to work inventing the most famous plastic lady in toy history. As Ruth Handler’s creation hits the big screen, The Independent’s Amanda Whiting digs into the remarkable life of one of America’s unheralded pioneers.

[25 July 2023 10:00 · Peony Hirwani]

Greta Gerwig explains Barbie’s ‘mic-drop’ ending: ‘I knew I wanted to end on a joke’

Greta Gerwig has explained Barbie’s “mic drop” ending, revealing that its one-liner took inspiration from her personal experience as a teenage girl.

[25 July 2023 09:30 · Peony Hirwani]

Oppenheimer sex scene sparks controversy among India’s Hindu right-wing groups

A sex scene in Oppenheimer involving Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh has sparked controversy among Hindu right-wing groups in India.

During the scene, Pugh’s character Jean Tatlock stops during intercourse and picks up a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, one of Hinduism’s holiest scriptures, and asks Murphy, who plays the lead role of Dr J Robert Oppenheimer, to read from it.

[25 July 2023 09:00 · Peony Hirwani]

Woman goes viral with custom-made ‘Barbenheimer’ outfit for double-feature: ‘Flawless’

A woman has stunned movie-goers after she showed off her custom-made outfit for back-to-back screenings of Barbie and Oppenheimer.

This weekend, the simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer on 21 July made around $235.5m at the domestic box office. Ahead of opening weekend, many fans affectionately nicknamed the double-billing as “Barbenheimer” and shared their plans to see one movie right after the other.

Such was the case for one fan, who went viral on Twitter after she shared her two-in-one look, fitting for both the pink-filled Greta Gerwig movie and the Christopher Nolan biopic. The Twitter user – who goes by Danielle – posted a video of herself standing in front of an Oppenheimer movie poster, dressed in a black sleeveless jumpsuit with a black studded belt.