AMC and IMAX thank fans for record post-pandemic “Barbenheimer” weekend

With Barbie and Oppenheimer racking up an explosive weekend at the box office — with a combined debut of more than $300 million in the U.S. alone — theater chain AMC and large format chain IMAX are thanking fans and the filmmakers alike.

The movies respectively debuted to more than $337 million and $147 million worldwide.

AMC reports some 7.8 million Americans caught a movie this weekend, with the viewership setting a new post-pandemic single-day attendance record on Saturday, July 22. That was AMC’s busiest day since July 2019, the company trumpeted. 

Moreover “moviegoers came hungry,” AMC explains, recording its second-highest-ever tally for food and beverages sold at its theaters in the company’s 103-year-old history — second only to the Saturday of Avengers: Endgame‘s opening weekend in 2019. 

Also of note, through Sunday evening, more than 87,000 members of AMC Stubs movie club booked themselves the Barbenheimer double-feature.

AMC Chairman/CEO Adam Aron commented, “…AMC sends an enormous thank you and congratulations to Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, and the entire team at [Barbie producers] Warner Bros., and to Christopher Nolan and the [Oppenheimer] team at Universal Pictures.”

Aron explained the record weekend would not have been possible without the “on-going solid performances” of Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One and the child trafficking thriller phenomenon Sound of Freedom.

Oppenheimer broke several records for IMAX theaters as well. 

The movie starring Cillian Murphy set a July earnings record for the format, earning $35 million from 740 IMAX screens worldwide. 

IMAX CEO Rich Gelfond commented, “Around the world, we’ve seen sellouts at 4:00 a.m. shows and people travelling hours across borders to see Oppenheimer in IMAX 70mm — this is a phenomenon beyond compare in IMAX and we’re just getting started.”

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