Barbenheimer a huge hit with collections over ₹22 cr on day 1

Oppenheimer, which cost $100 million to make, outperformed Barbie, which cost $150 million, in domestic collections on the first day. Oppenheimer’s opening day take was ₹17.5 crore, while Barbie collected ₹5.3 crore, according to figures given by Warner Bros Discovery, the distributor of both the films in India.

Both the films were released on July 21 (Friday) amid high expectations from the film fraternity that they would attract audiences back to theatres. The gross domestic box office collection for the first half of 2023 dropped 15% year-on-year to ₹4,868 crore, as per Ormax Media.

Globally, Comcast-owned NBCUniversal’s Universal Pictures is the distributor for Oppenheimer, while Warner Bros is the distributor for Barbie. In India, Warner Bros is distributing both films since Universal Pictures shut its India operations in 2020.

“We have had a stupendous response to the first weekend bookings of both Oppenheimer and Barbie, both of which have their own unique set of audiences,” said Gautam Dutta, co-CEO, PVR Inox.

He also said all IMAX shows for Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer on the PVR Inox circuit are sold out. “We have scheduled shows as early as 3.45 am to accommodate as many shows on IMAX so that Nolan fans do not miss out on the action for the movie shot on IMAX format,” Dutta said.The PVR Inox co-CEO added that the multiplex chain’s premium screen formats like P[XL] and BIGPIX had above-average occupancies of more than 55%. “Considering Oppenheimer is also dubbed in Hindi, we are seeing a wider viewership of the movie beyond the metros.”He said Barbie, which falls in a different genre, has drawn family audiences cut across generations with average occupancies beyond 45%. He added that the movie has been well received in the ICE Immersive format, which features LED panels on each side of the auditorium.

“Both movies are generating huge word-of-mouth customer reviews, and what is extremely encouraging is that they are not choosing to watch either of the two movies but preferring to watch both, which is translating to occupancies beyond 60%,” he said.