'Oppenheimer' races ahead of 'Barbie' in India with Rs 55.75 cr net collection

Christopher Nolan-directed Oppenheimer bucked the global trend to race ahead of Barbie in India by making more than twice as much as the fantasy comedy directed by Greta Gerwig within the first four days of the two films’ release.

Despite the controversy surrounding Oppenheimer over certain explicit scenes involving the Hindu sacred text of the Bhagvad Gita, the nuclear arms biopic is estimated to have made a net collection of Rs 55.75 crore in the first four days, while Barbie is estimated to have raked in Rs 21.15 crore in net collection, according to trade portal Sacnilk.

The two films belonging to contrasting genres clashed at the box office by releasing on the same day of July 21, 2023, amid much fanfare, leading to the portmanteau ‘Barbenheimer’ to refer to the cultural phenomenon.

In India, both films are being distributed by Warner Bros Pictures, and have opened to critical and commercial acclaim. The films have offered respite to theatres as a string of Bollywood flops and preference for OTT streaming platforms have kept audiences away.

Globally, however, Barbie earned a whopping $182 million in its opening weekend collection. This is twice as much as Oppenheimer’s global $93.7 million box office collection.

The film starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Kate McKinnon, Alexandra Shipp, Dua Lipa, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, America Ferrera, Ritu Arya, Will Ferrell, and Emerald Fennell follows the lives of Barbie and her fellow Barbies who live in Barbieland with their Ken counterparts. It chronicles Barbie and Ken’s journey into the real world.

Oppenheimer, on the other hand, deals with the life of American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer who is credited as the father of the atomic bomb – the use of which marked the end of World War 2 and the death of tens of thousands of people. It stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh and Matt Damon among others.

The film’s explicit scene has sparked social media outrage with Save Culture Save India Foundation condemning the movie. The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) gave the film a U/A certification, which recommends parental guidance for viewers aged under 12. Union Information & Broadcasting minister Anurag Thakur has reportedly asked the filmmakers to remove the scene featuring the Gita, and sought an explanation from the CBFC.

“Christopher Nolan is a big brand in India. Secondly, Barbie collections are for English language only as it’s not dubbed in Hindi. But Oppenheimer collections are for English and the Hindi dubbed version. The reach of the latter film, because of its dubbing, is so much bigger and wider,” says film trade analyst Komal Nahta. 

Cinepolis India CEO Devang Sampat says ‘The Super Mario Brothers’ was a global box office winner, but did not perform well in India. “We have to communicate that these Hollywood movies with great animation effects are not for just for kids, but for adults as well. With Barbie, the initial perception was that it is just for kids. Now, we are seeing collections growing in non-metro cities also.”

Also Read: 'Oppenheimer', 'Barbie' bring huge relief to movie theatres! Nearly 2 million tickets sold over the weekend

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