When Barbie and Oppenheimer revealed themselves to have the same opening day of July 21st, Barbenheimer was born. These “oil and water” movies ended up doing wonders for theater chains as AMC experienced its best revenue week in 103 years.
Barbenheimer gave many the struggle of deciding what movie to watch first. The dark Oppenheimer or the light Barbie? Or the other way around? No matter the order, these two movies were either both seen on July 21st or throughout the week. AMC, the world’s largest theater chain, made a breakthrough in 103 years thanks to Barbenheimer. According to Entrepreneur, it accomplished the “best week ever” for ticket admissions from July 21st to July 27th.
AMC didn’t reveal its total ticket sales. However, a press release said July 20-23 marked the theater’s busiest time since AMC’s re-opening post-pandemic. The numbers were more than double what it was this time last year with 65 AMC locations having plenty of luck. In just ten days, Barbie generated $795 million worldwide with Oppenheimer at $412 million. And in just ten days, Barbenheimer made over a billion dollars.
Adam Aron, AMC chairman and CEO, spoke in a statement about how proud he was of this ticket revenue milestone. He said, “Achieving the most admissions revenue in a single week in AMC’s storied 103-year history is a testament to the moviegoing audience, who has demonstrated once again that they are ready, willing, and eager to come out to movie theatres in huge numbers.”
The new record that AMC accomplished isn’t completely surprising. Variety reported that theatergoers purchased 20,000 AMC stubs to see Barbenheimer on the same day. As people felt the need to have a double feature movie night, it shows that going to the movies has gotten a lot better since the pandemic.
The Origins of Barbenheimer
On April 15, 2022, @NextBestPicture posted a quote retweet that first mentioned the word “Barbenheimer” in reference to the casting for both films happening rapidly. This post gained over 350 likes in one year. Twitter then latched onto the hilarity of these two completely different movies having the same premiere day.
Before you know it, recent weeks before July 21st led to Barbenheimer T-shirts sold online and fan-made posters popping up on social media. Even independent theaters would offer movie-themed menus and Barbenheimer costume parties! This double feature shows that opposites really do attract ticket sales with AMC theaters truly benefitting from it all.
