There’s no stopping Warner Bros. Barbie as sources tell us the Greta Gerwig movie has a shot at hitting the billion mark this Sunday worldwide, if not Monday. Stateside she’s eyeing a third weekend around $55M, -41%, give or take, and she’ll cross the $400M stateside mark by Thursday, her 15th day of release.
That’s faster than The Super Mario Bros Movie and Top Gun: Maverick, which took 18 days to hit that domestic B.O. benchmark. Those pics finaled their stateside results respectively at $574.1M and $718.7M. Where does the Mattel doll stop her trail? Somewhere around $600M U.S. Through yesterday, Barbie stands at $850M WW.
At $15M, Barbie‘s Monday was the best second non-holiday Monday ever, and her Tuesday of $15.25M is the best non-holiday Tuesday as well (meaning for films that didn’t play through the Christmas or post Christmas holiday breaks).
Universal’s third sesh of Oppenheimer is also strong, likely in second place, with $23M to $26M. Yesterday the Christopher Nolan movie made $6.98M, +2% from Monday’s $6.8M for a running total of $188.4M domestic. The movie is beating the $189.7M final domestic of Nolan’s Dunkirk as we write this report.
Warner Bros. $129M production of Meg 2: The Trench (funny enough, entitled Shark 2 in Italy) is looking at $20M-$30M at 3,500 locations in third. Expect lower on this because of Barbenheimer just like we pegged lower for Haunted Mansion. Meg 2 will chomp on Dolby Cinema, PLFs, 4DX, Screen X, Drive-ins and Dbox formats. Jason Statham is back. The first movie released in early Aug 2018 opened to $45.4M and went on to make $145.5M. The fish is strong with guys. The original movie had a B+ CinemaScore. No reviews yet, but critics weren’t wild about the beast the first time around at 46% rotten. There’s a shot this sequel could do another $90M abroad, $50M of that coming from China. The PRC was huge for Meg which had co-financing from China Gravity; the movie opening to $50M and finaling at $153M, unadjusted for inflation and currency swings. Previews here in the U.S. and Canada start at 3PM Thursday at 3,000 theaters.
As we told you earlier, Paramount/Nickelodeon/Point Grey’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem is heading toward a $30M+ five-day opening after minting $3.85M in previews last night. At 95% certified fresh, it’s the best reviewed animated film YTD alongside Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. There was previously an animated version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from Warner Bros/Weinstein Co back in 2007, TMNT, which opened to $24.2M and legged out to $54.1M domestic. Critics splattered that at 36% Rotten while audiences gave it an A- CinemaScore.