The chief executive of Majestic Cinemas,an independent chain in northern NSW and south-east Queensland,had survived an even more brutal financial year than during COVID,without support from governments,banks and landlords.
Staff welcome Barbie at Majestic Cinemas,where the movie has turned ticket sales around.Majestic
ButBarbie,which will take just 17 days to become the biggest movie in Australian cinemas this year,has kept the doors open and ticket sellers even busier than hoped in the regions.
“What surprised me was the number of 50,60 and even 80-year-old women who were salivating at the prospect of seeingBarbie,” Dell said. “People at the shops are talking aboutBarbie and,to a degree,Oppenheimer as well.”
Around the country,’s subversive and heartfelt comedy has had fans returning for a second and third time as cinema’s biggest cultural event in years,,continues.
It is benefiting from what the movie’s distributor,Universal Pictures International’s managing director Mike Baard,calls “the book club effect”:large groups of women going together.
Hi Barbie! Greta Gerwig’s subversive comedy,which stars Margot Robbie,will need only 17 days to become the year’s biggest movie in Australian cinemas.Supplied,compiled by Monique Westermann
“It’s a phenomenon we first experienced with the originalMamma Mia! back in 2008,” he said. “That’s where you get that repeat business coming in. There might be six,eight,10,12 or 14 in a group.”
Although box office temporarily dipped when the on Monday night,cinema executives believeBarbie will pass the $51.7 million taken by the year’s biggest hit,The Super Mario Bros Movie,on Friday.
Hoyts chief executive Damian Keogh,who originally thoughtBarbie would take $20 million,now expects it to take a stunning $75 million.
“The nostalgia thing has hit big,” he said. “And it’s done very well with younger viewers.”
Keogh saidBarbie’s success was largely driven by women and girls. Data from Hoyts’ loyalty program showed it was also attracting patrons who hadn’t been to the movies this year.
Baard thinksBarbie could even take $80 million.
That would make it the country’s seventh highest-grossing movie,with the originalAvatar still leading the way ($119 million) fromStar Wars:The Force Awakens ($94.1 million),Avatar:The Way of Water ($93.7 million) andTop Gun:Maverick ($93.4 million).
Baard,whose company is also distributing,said he was delighted by how popular both had been since opening on the same day.
“The marketing of the two films somehow helped each other. Somehow one plus one has equalled three”:Scene from Barbie’s Sydney premiere.Supplied
“The marketing of the two films somehow helped each other,” he said. “Somehow one plus one has equalled three.”
Baard believesOppenheimer might even have attracted more second viewings thanBarbie.
“It’s a welcome reminder of the power of cinema,” he said. “It’s so easy to compartmentalise the story and perhaps suggest it’s a dry,three-hour biopic about events that happened when most people weren’t even born yet[Nolan] has made it so current and also about the human experience.”
Keogh originally expectedOppenheimer to take up to $25 million,attracting a more even but largely older spread of male and female viewers thanBarbie. He now thinks it will now take at least $35 million.
Oppenheimer is set for a long run based on ticket sales alone at the country’s only IMAX cinema at Melbourne Museum. Sydney’s IMAX is due to open within weeks.
It has sold out every session in Nolan’s preferred format,giant-screen IMAX 1570 Film,until mid-September. Many sessions in a digital format,4K Laser,are also booked out on weekends.
Worldwide,Barbie has taken $US850 million ($1.3 billion) and is expected to become one of the fastest non-franchise movies to take $US1 billion within days.
Oppenheimerhas taken more than $US425 million so far.
Email Garry Maddox at and follow him on Twitter at.
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