Vue cinemas enjoys record-breaking week due to ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’
The highly-anticipated release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie adaptation and Christopher Nolan’s historical biopic Oppenheimer was always guaranteed to break records. Barbie became the biggest opening weekend for a female director, while Oppenheimer caused a record-breaking weekend in IMAX. Now, Vue International has shared that the clashing release of the two films led to their most successful week.
Speaking on the record-breaking week for the company, Vue International’s COO Claire Arskey dubbed the period following the release of Barbie and Oppenheimer their “best week ever”.
Across Europe, the company’s weekly admissions were over 40% higher than their previous record. Poland saw their greatest week on record, while cinemas in the Netherlands beat previous records set by the 2019 live-action The Lion King.
In the UK and Ireland, admissions were 20% higher than the previous record, which was set over a decade ago by Sam Mendes’ contribution to the beloved James Bond series, Skyfall.
Arskey suggested that the phenomenon looks set to continue, sharing: “The second box office weekend for both films also showed signs of strong word of mouth, with Barbie and Oppenheimer admissions going up week on week in markets like Germany and the Netherlands. This is a strong indication that these films will have a sizeable audience in cinemas throughout the rest of the summer.”
Looking forward to the future of the chain, Arskey concluded: “And there’s more to come. We’re looking forward to seeing our customers continue to enjoy the big screen experience over the summer and beyond as other great titles are released this year”.
She cited Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes as upcoming showings for film fans to look out for.
Despite the overwhelming commercial success of her first big blockbuster, Barbie director Greta Gerwig has stated that she isn’t currently considering a sequel. She told the New York Times, “I wouldn’t want to squash anybody else’s dream, but for me, at this moment, I’m at totally zero.”
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