AMC Theaters reached a personal best thanks to the success of the “Barbenheimer” craze.
The world’s largest theater chain announced on Sunday that it saw its “best week ever” of admissions revenue during the week of July 21 to July 27, according to a press release.
The 103-year-old theater company, which has 10,500 theaters across the world, attributed the historic milestone to the success of Barbie and Oppenheimer, which were both released in theaters on July 21.
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Although AMC didn’t reveal its total ticket sales, Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig, took in $162 million domestically in its opening weekend, according to Variety, making it the largest ever for a female director. Oppenheimer followed with $82.5 million.
The weekend of July 20 to July 23 marked the theater’s busiest since reopening amid the COVID-19 pandemic, per the press release.
Photo by Hannah Beier for the Washington Post | Getty — Movie posters for Barbie and Oppenheimer are pictured outside of the Cinemark Somerdale 16 and XD in Somerdale, New Jersey, 2023.
Demand for the films continued into the following week (July 27 through Sunday, July 30) with Barbie grossing $93 million and Oppenheimer with almost $47 million domestically, per Variety.
Admissions revenue for the weekend was more than double from this time last year, per the release, with 65 United States AMC locations reaching personal bests for single box office sales.
In total, both movies generated over a billion dollars globally in just 10 days.
“Achieving the most admissions revenue in a single week in AMC’s storied 103-year history is a testament to the moviegoing audience, who has demonstrated once again that they are ready, willing, and eager to come out to movie theatres in huge numbers,” said AMC CEO and Chairman Adam Aron in a statement.
@entrepreneur with a feature film and a café now added to her many occupations, it’s safe to say that Barbie is one heck of an entrepreneur #barbiecafe #malibubarbie #popuprestaurant #photoopps ♬ original sound – Entrepreneur
“These two movies, along with the many others playing on our huge silver screens, continue to rewrite what is possible at the box office,” Aron added. “At AMC, we are thrilled to add our own new all-time records into that conversation.”
Following the news, AMC shares went up by 7 percent, per CNN.
