Greta Gerwig’s film “Barbie” was the most watched in Portugal on its opening weekend, with 189,709 spectators and more than 1.1 million euros at the box office, the Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual (ICA) revealed.
Between Thursday and Sunday, the period considered as the opening weekend, Greta Gerwig’s comedy was shown in 177 theaters and counted, on average, 109 spectators per session.
In terms of gross box-office revenue, the film grossed €1.1 million, a level that had only been surpassed this year by Louis Leterrier’s “Furious Speed X”, with €1.3 million and 213,501 spectators in the same opening period.
According to ICA data, few films in the last five years have surpassed the €1 million barrier on their commercial opening weekend.
In December 2022, it happened with James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of the Water”, with €1.2 million and 174,024 tickets issued, and at the end of 2021 with Jon Watts’ “Spider-Man: Homecoming”, with €1.2 million and 201,360 spectators.
Cinema statistics plummeted in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced the temporary closure of cinemas, so you have to go back to 2019 to find a commercial opening weekend with box office figures above €1 million.
In 2019, the figure was reached in April with “Avengers: Endgame” by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, with €1.5 million and 257,079 viewers, and in July with the new version of “The Lion King” by Jon Favreau, with €1.3 million and 236,010 viewers.
According to Variety magazine, “Barbie” surpassed expectations in terms of audience and profit in its opening weekend, grossing $337 million globally, or about 303 million euros.
Greta Gerwig’s film, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, was produced by Warner and Mattel, the company that markets the Barbie doll, on a budget of $145 million (130 million euros).
“Barbie”, which the New York Times describes as “a feminist manifesto wrapped in hot-pink bubblegum paper”, also represents a record for the American director, actress and screenwriter herself, author of films such as “Little Women” (2019) and “Lady Bird” (2017).
“Barbie” premiered on July 20, the same week that Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” also premiered globally, radically different from each other, but which prompted a distribution and exhibition marketing campaign entitled “Barbenheimer”.
In Portugal, Christopher Nolan’s film, which deals with the story of scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer in the creation of the atomic bomb, was the second most watched on the opening weekend with 80,939 spectators and about 579 thousand euros in box office revenue.
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