24 Jul – "Barbie" proves that pink is not just a colour, as it opened at a historic USD 155 million in the US, making it one of the biggest opening weekends, surpassing "The Super Mario Bros. Movie", which opened at USD 146.3 million earlier. The movie, which stars Margot Robbie in the titular role, also made a big splash internationally, earning USD 182 million for a global amount of USD 337 million. This also means that director Greta Gerwig has now snatched the crown from Patty Jenkins as the female director with the biggest opening number, as the movie surpassed Jenkins' "Wonder Woman", which opened to USD 103.3 million domestically in 2017.
Meanwhile, Barbie's opponent, the more serious Christopher Nolan movie, "Oppenheimer" also did well at the box office, opening at USD 80.5 million. It marks Nolan's third biggest domestic debut behind "The Dark Knight Rises" and The Dark Knight". It also made USD 93.7 million internationally, bringing in a total of USD 174.2 million globally. It is noted that while "Barbie" has more female audiences, "Oppenheimer" is more male-dominated.