Home › Latest News › Gran Turismo/Barbie Neck And Neck For Box Office Lead

Gran Turismo/Barbie Neck And Neck For Box Office Lead

Ashley Riordan | 28 Aug 2023

Neck and neck for the crown that is Box Office Lead are ‘Gran Turismo: Based on a True Story’ and ‘Barbie.’ ‘Gran Turismo’ has inched ahead of ‘Barbie’ in the recent estimates.

Sony Pictures reported ‘Gran Turismo’ opened with $17.3 million over the weekend, and Warner Bros. estimated ‘Barbie’ achieved $17.1 million during its sixth week of release. However, these totals could change upon counting final ticket sales.

Although ‘Gran Turismo’ has claimed the top spot, it’s all but certain “Barbie’ sold more tickets than other movie this past weekend.

U.S. movie theaters held the second annual National Cinema Day on Sunday, selling $4 tickets to all films and showtimes at almost all theatres.

‘Barbie’ was expected to take top draw, with a boost in repeat viewings, and with $594.8 million in ticket sales, it surpassed ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ and became this year’s biggest hit in the country. Currently at $1.34 billion, it will also soon surpass ‘Mario’ worldwide.

National Cinema Day was created to lure moviegoers to theaters during a slow period, and gain back lost ticket revenue by selling a lot of popcorn. Last year saw 8.1 million moviegoers, becoming the busiest day of the year in theaters.

Warner Bros. estimated ‘Barbie’ would gross $7.8 million on Sunday, equaling almost 2 million people viewing the film.

Distribution Chief for Warner Bros., Jeff Goldstein claimed the biggest movie this past weekend was, “‘Barbie,’ Without any question.”

Although ‘Barbie’ became the top draw, ‘Gran Turismo’ saw a slight edge in gross earnings, thanks to Sony factoring in $3.9 million from previous screenings, and $1.4 million in previews.

Goldstein continued, “We’ve made a big issue of it only because ‘Barbie’ has had incredible holds. To take away the number one, which would make it five weekends at number one since it opened, kind of doesn’t feel right for the ‘Barbie’ filmmakers who really deserve the accolades.”

‘Gran Turismo,’ costing $60 million to create, is about a young man turns into a real life racer thanks to his love of the PlayStation video game.

The continuing actors and writers strike took away from the ability to promote films with casts. Sony held several weeks of preview screening and fan events to promote ‘Gran Turismo.’

Paul Dergarabedian, Senior Media Analyst for Comscore said, “Obviously, every movie is in pursuit of being the number one film. But at the end of the day, ‘Barbie’ is just an out-and-out smash global blockbuster. No matter how you slice it, ‘Barbie’ is always going to be a winner no matter the outcome of this weekend. Sony, left without stars to go out and promote the movie, had to rely on the audience becoming the marketing voice.”

The top film of last week, DC Comics ‘Blue Beetle’ moved to third place with $12.8 million. It has made $46.3 million in two weeks.

‘Oppenheimer’ moved to fourth place ($9 million) during its sixth week. Like ‘Barbie,’ the film did remarkably well beyond most theatre films, passing $300 million domestically, reaching $777.1 million globally.

Some other new release also hit theatres, MGM’s ‘Bottoms’ grossed $51,600 per location (10 theatres), and Liam Neeson’s ‘Retribution’ debuted with $3.3 million in 1,750 theatres.

Dennis Quaid’s ‘The Hill,’ launched with $2.5 million from 1,570 locations, and Helen Mirren’s ‘Golda’ debuted with $2 million in 883 theaters.

Sources suggest the North American box office is $70 million shy of breaking $4 billion. Spurring a comeback were ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ following some films, ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,’ ‘The Flash,’ and ‘Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One,’ falling short of expectations.