This weekend’s crowded cinema marketplace – with “The Flash” and “Elemental” opening against the still-going strong ‘Spider-Verse’ and “Transformers” – is merely a preview of what’s to come next month.
The July 21st weekend is set to see a major showdown as Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” open up and battle against the second weekend of Christopher McQuarrie’s “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1”.
Whilst it’s too soon for proper audience tracking figures, box-office experts have been weighing in, and one possibility that looks to be arising is that Nolan’s historical epic could end up debuting in third place.
According to Indiewire, the seventh “Mission: Impossible” film is headed for a Wednesday-Sunday five-day opening of over $125 million on July 12th. As a result, its second weekend will be very likely to hover over the $50 million mark.
“Barbie,” with its wider appeal and PG-13 rating, is being seen as having the edge of “Oppenheimer” with its three-hour runtime and R rating – even with the latter’s higher revenue from taking all the IMAX screens. So the result could well be ‘Reckoning’ in first, “Barbie” in second and “Oppenheimer” in third.
Finances also come into play. Both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” cost around $100 million each to produce – as opposed to ‘Reckoning’ which is reportedly close to $300 million.
All will rely on good word of mouth to sustain their theatrical runs, and ultimately their positions at the box-office mean far less than how much they make both in their debuts and in subsequent weeks of business.
