Barbenheimer gave Vue cinemas the best UK weekend since Covid

Barbie and Oppenheimer did so well at the box office at their opening weekend that Vue International reported its biggest weekend for UK cinema ticket sales since before the pandemic.

On Sunday, the cinema chain said a fifth of its customers had bought tickets to see both films in a double bill.

More than 2,000 of Vue’s screenings for Barbie were sold out, according to the company.

The company said the comedy drama Barbie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, would exceed ticket sales for Super Mario Bros and expected Oppenheimer to become the biggest film of the year.

Tim Richards, chief executive and founder of Vue International, said: “Vue saw its highest weekend admissions since Avengers: Endgame in 2019 with the release of Barbie and Oppenheimer, proving that when the movies are there our customers will come to watch them on the big screen.

Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter

“Barbie is tracking to become the biggest film of 2023 and has a good chance of getting into the Top 10 highest grossing films of all time.

“It is an incredibly exciting moment for the industry, and we expect this trend to continue for the coming weeks.”

In total, the cinema chain had more than 4,000 sell-out sessions across the country for both films.

Meanwhile, Odeon reported on Thursday that more than 200,000 advance tickets had been bought and more than 10,000 guests were expected to see both films during the opening weekend.

Universal Pictures said Oppenheimer had made £8.05m in the UK and Ireland since Friday. They said the biopic is on track to have a better opening three days than Nolan’s other blockbusters Dunkirk, Interstellar and Inception.

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.