'Barbie' dominates the box office, raking in a $155 million opening weekend

Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" raked in a stunning $155 million domestically over the weekend, giving the film the largest opening weekend of 2023 and the biggest ever debut for a female director.

The combined release of "Barbie" and Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer," dubbed "Barbenheimer," has become a pop culture sensation - and one that might revive a struggling movie industry.

Barbenheimer was the fourth highest-grossing industry weekend of all time in North America, totaling $302 million Sunday. Analysts believe it will grow even more when final numbers are reported Monday.

Coming in behind "Barbie," "Oppenheimer" opened at $80.5 million domestically over the weekend, according to Comscore. Both movies essentially doubled predictions from weeks ago, Dergarabedian said.

It's unprecedented to not only have two films do so well, but also to help each other with the Barbenheimer trend, Dergarabedian said.

"I can't really think of any parallels ever," Dergarabedian said. "Where both movies became bigger because of each other."

It's also a tale of two trajectories, Dergarabedian said, between a commercial blockbuster and a three-hour historical drama.