The “Barbenheimer” tidal wave did not spare Quebec; the two feature films together grossed over three million in box office revenue, with the Barbie comedy amassing over two million alone, nearly twice the revenue of the Oppenheimer drama.
This cannon performance relegated Mission: Impossible – Death toll, Part 1 to third place; the adventure film starring Tom Cruise had to settle for just over $550,000 in revenue in its third week on Quebec screens, for a total of nearly $2.5 million.
The Quebec film Le temps d’unété also had another excellent weekend at the box office; Louise Archambault’s film raised more than $235,000, and now has box office receipts of nearly $765,000. The feature film in which Patrice Robitaille stars is thus placed in a very honorable fourth place on the Quebec charts, to the great pleasure of its artisans: “We are very happy to see that the public continues to come in large numbers to see Le temps d’unété, said Patrick Roy, president of Immina Films, in a press release. It is very rare to see a second weekend as strong as the first. This is a sign of extremely positive word of mouth around the film! It’s very exciting to see that even when big American blockbusters hit the box office, there is room for Quebec cinema and that the public responds. »
On a North American scale, the past weekend exceeded all expectations, with Barbie grossing over 155 million in the 4,243 theaters across the continent that screened the film starring Margot Robbie, surpassing The Super Mario Bros. Movie as well as all the movies released this year by Marvel. Greta Gerwig’s film also broke the first-weekend box office record for a film directed by a woman.
As for Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s biographical drama about the father of the atomic bomb has grossed $80.5 million at 3,610 theaters in the United States and Canada, despite being banned for those under 17 unless accompanied by an adult, except in Quebec, where the film is rated for everyone. Dramas thus categorized rarely experience such popular success from the first weekend.
It is the first time that two films have both exceeded 80 million in the same weekend. If the trend continues, it will likely be the fourth weekend in box office history, grossing over $300 million for the entire industry. The only real victim of this phenomenon was Mission: Impossible which, despite good reviews and a strong opening weekend, saw its revenue drop 64% in its second weekend.
