AS “Barbenheimer” continues its dominance of current cinema fare, a group of turtles and sharks have jumped into the fray.
Grossing another US$53 million (RM241.55 million) at the North American box office has helped Barbie rake in an additional US$459.4 million (RM2.094 billion) in its domestic box office, pushing the film past US$1 billion (RM4.65 billion) globally.
For Warner Bros. and Mattel, this was a huge win.
Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is the first live-action film in history that was directed by a woman to join the global billion-dollar club.
In North America, it also passed Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman and Anna Boden’s Captain Marvel, which earned US$413 million (RM1.882 billion) and US$426 million (RM1.94 billion), respectively.
In terms of every film ever made, Barbie is also the 53rd film in history to cross US$1 billion worldwide (RM4.65 billion), and it’s among only a few films by Warner Bros. to do so.
The other half of Barbenheimer, Universal’s Oppenheimer by Christopher Nolan, remained a force of atomic nature in its third outing, scorching past US$500 million (RM2.278 billion) worldwide.
At a global tally of US$552.9 million (RM2.519 billion), it is the highest grossing film about World War II, coming in front of Nolan’s previous film, Dunkirk, and Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan.
Over the weekend, Warner Bros. released Meg 2: The Trench joined the box office behemoths and managed to hold its own. Opening in second place domestically with an estimate of US$30 million (RM137 million), Meg 2 took bigger chunks of meat overseas with US$112 million (RM510 million) from 76 markets.
With a global start of US$142 million (RM647 million) against a reported budget of US$129 million (RM587 million) before marketing, Meg 2 will likely make a profit.
Paramount Pictures’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem fared well enough against the rest, with a five-day debut of US$43.1 million (RM196 million).
One of the best-reviewed studio films this year, the film may reboot the TMNT franchise on the big screen.
