‘Barbie,’ in 1st, and ‘Oppenheimer,’ in 2nd, fuel historic box office bonanza

By LINDSEY BAHR
AP Film Writer

“Barbenheimer” didn’t just work – it spun box office gold. Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” claimed the top spot with a massive $155 million in ticket sales from North American theaters from 4,243 locations, surpassing “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” (as well as every Marvel movie this year) as the biggest opening of the year and breaking the first weekend record for a film directed by a woman, Greta Gerwig. Universal’s “Oppenheimer” also soared past expectations, taking in $80.5 million from 3,610 theaters in the U.S. and Canada, marking director Christopher Nolan’s biggest non-Batman debut and one of the best-ever starts for an R-rated biographical drama.