‘Barbenheimer’ driving the box office to one of its biggest-ever weekends, and the highest since ‘Avengers: Endgame’

After months of memes, marketing, and hype, anyone who thought the battle between Barbie and Oppenheimer would fail to deliver – which surely can’t have been many – and turn out to be a damp squib has been left with no other choice but to feast on a hefty slice of humble pie.

Incredibly, both movies are drastically out-performing expectations, with Barbie on course to dislodge The Super Mario Bros. Movie as the highest-grossing debutant of the year with a haul that could exceed $160 million by the time dust settles on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Oppenheimer is tracking for a three-day tally of at least $75 million. When you throw the unstoppable Sound of Freedom and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One into the mix, then the domestic box office is on course for its best-ever total since Avengers: Endgame decimated the competition in April of 2019.

In fact, should the Top 10’s cumulative gross end up north of $300 million – which is looking very likely when you consider Barbenheimer alone is well on the way to accruing at least 75 percent of that tally – then it’ll mark only the fourth time in history that the domestic Top 10 has ever exceeded that figure on a single weekend.

Of course, Endgame nabbed $357 million all on its lonesome four years ago, which arguably makes it even more impressive this time around when you consider two original non-franchise titles are leading the pack, with an acclaimed sequel and surprise smash hit sprinkled in for good measure.