Historical biopic Oppenheimer is expected to see a $50 million USD box office debut this weekend.
The Christopher Nolan film – which follows the life of American scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer as he crafts the atomic bomb – hits theaters this Friday, July 21, the same day as Greta Gerwig‘s Barbie, which is slated for a $100 million USD opening weekend.
An adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book “American Prometheus,” Nolan’s Oppenheimer clocks in at three hours in length (thus limiting the number of screenings per day) while Barbie is just under two hours, possibly potentially attributing to the $50 million USD difference in debuts. Nolan’s Universal-backed drama cost approximately $100 million USD to produce and will see its weekend debut across 3,600 North American theaters, with an emphasis on premium large format screens such as Imax. According to a report from AMC, 40,000 people have already purchased tickets to attend the “Barbenheimer” double feature at some point this weekend.
Cillian Murphy plays J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man who spearheaded the bomb’s creation, alongside a stacked cast consisting of Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh and Alden Ehrenreich.
In other entertainment news, Hayao Miyazaki’s final film, The Boy and the Heron, is slated for a US release later this year.
