Barbie’s director, Greta Gerwig, and star, Margot Robbie, are urging fans to see competing blockbusters, including Oppenheimer.
Kudos to Tom Cruise for blasting the narrative that releasing movies has to be a cut-throat business, with the actor going out of his way to support Greta Gerwig’s Barbie as well as Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimerboth of which open within a week of his Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1. He recently urged fans via Instagram to see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Barbie and Oppenheimerand now Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig have risen to the occasion, posting images of themselves on Twitter buying tickets for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 and Oppenheimer.
Assignment: Accepted! pic.twitter.com/DJ2gm5e4XU
— Barbie Movie (@barbiethemovie) June 30, 2023
While many have questioned the wisdom of opening three such highly anticipated (and apparently great) movies within a week of each other, early box office tracking suggests all three films will do great. Impossible mission should open with a north of $90 million opening, Barbie is set to start with $70-80 million, and Oppenheimer should do about $40 million. All of those openings seem strong, especially if word of mouth on them is good.
The buzz around Hollywood was that Cruise was upset that Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 was not going to be able to keep IMAX screens in order to make room for Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Whatever the case, Cruise’s rationale is on the money, with him likely reasoning that in between strikes, the pandemic and a bunch of movies that underperformed, it’s important that people go out and see movies in theaters again – especially if they’re good. All three movies are said to deliver in a big way, and as a moviegoer myself, I plan on seeing all three as soon as I can.