Hollywood Predicts Potential $100 Million Opening Weekend For ‘Barbie,’ $50 Million For ‘Oppenheimer’

Cillian Murphy was a starving artist on the set of Oppenheimer… Literally.

The “Barbenheimer” opening weekend is finally upon us!

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Barbenheimer” is officially here, and the battle between the bomb and the bombshell is about to ignite the box office. Greta Gerwig’s cotton candy-colored “Barbie,” starring Margot Robbie as the plastic, fantastic doll, is expected to generate a huge $95 million to $110 million from 4,200 North American theaters over the weekend. Given the omnipresence of “Barbie” (the marketing is practically inescapable, with enough memes and marketing tie-ins to last a lifetime), initial estimates are all over the place. Warner Bros. is projecting a more conservative $75 million to start, while rivals and exhibitors believe the PG-13 movie could make as much as $140 million between Friday and Sunday.

Matt Damon has revealed that he was planning to take a break from acting when he got a call from Christopher Nolan for Oppenheimer.Speaking to Entertainment Weekly as part of EW‘s Around The Table interview with the rest of the Oppenheimer cast, Damon revealed that he had negotiated with his wife to take a break from acting unless Nolan called him up for a role.“This is going to sound made up, but it’s actually true,” Damon said to his cast mates. “I had — not to get too personal — negotiated extensively with my wife that I was taking time off.

Matt Damon has been going hard in the past few years, working as an actor, a producer, a screenwriter — sometimes all at once. So it's not too surprising that the celebrated Oscar-winner might want to take a little break.Recently Damon sat down at a panel discussion for Entertainment Weekly's «Around the Table» segment — where he was joined by his co-stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, and Robert Downey Jr., and director Christopher Nolan.At one point, Damon admitted that he'd promised his wife he wanted to take a hiatus, right before signing on to star in Nolan's World War 2-era drama.«This is going to sound made up, but it's actually true,» Damon shared.

Christopher Nolan has shared his thoughts on the AI boom sweeping Hollywood right now, describing it as “terrifying”.Speaking on a panel following a screening of Oppenheimer in New York, the director spoke out against the effects that AI has had on the industry, advocating for “accountability”.Nolan said, per Variety: “The rise of companies in the last 15 years bandying words like algorithm — not knowing what they mean in any kind of meaningful, mathematical sense — these guys don’t know what an algorithm is. People in my business talking about it, they just don’t want to take responsibility for whatever that algorithm does.”He continued: “Applied to AI, that’s a terrifying possibility.

Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt left the London premiere of Oppenheimer today (July 13) as a Hollywood actors’ strike was called.According to director Christopher Nolan, the actors left the premiere as the strike began (via BBC), after the event was brought forward by an hour so the cast could walk the red carpet.The national board of SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) – Hollywood’s largest union, which represents 160,000 actors and performers – voted unanimously today to strike, according to The Los Angeles Times.SAG-AFTRA was seeking better pay and working conditions in the age of streaming, while other negotiations related to safeguards against the unregulated use of artificial intelligence in the industry.Following a breakdown in negotiations between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), SAG-AFTRA members were told to be prepared to strike as they awaited the outcome of today’s vote.The Hollywood shutdown is first time in 63 years that actors and writers have gone on strike simultaneously. Actors will reportedly be on the picket line from Friday (July 14).“What’s happening to us is happening across all fields of labor,” said SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher.

The stars of Barbie are stepping out once again in London!

Emily Blunt has decided to take some time off from Hollywood. The 40-year-old actress explained she’ll be taking a brief break from acting to focus on her family.  "This year I’m not working," she revealed on the "Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi" podcast.

Barbenheimer is coming.

America Ferrera stepped out on the pink carpet in a stunning two piece look for the premiere of Barbie in Los Angeles on Sunday (July 9).

Greta Gerwig gave a shoutout to the writers amid the WGA strike during the Barbie premiere in LA at the Shrine Auditorium. Ahead of the screening, the director of the film also noted that her co-writer Noah Baumbach was not present in support of the guild.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer In a display of pink visible from outer space, Greta Gerwig’s  “Barbie” held its lush world premiere on Sunday in Los Angeles. The Shrine Auditorum, located smack in the middle of the USC campus, was hosed down in colors of blush and bashful for the anticipated Warner Bros. release (as in, the security guards wore pink polo shirts), which drew the film’s stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.  One notable absence was Noah Baumbach, the film’s co-writer and Gerwig’s partner. “My co-writer and co-creator, my partner in love and art, Noah Baumbach is not here. He is passionately supporting the fight of the Writers Guild of America,” Gerwig said. “He is a Barbie girl. Nothing in ‘Barbie’ happened without him, and nothing in Hollywood happens without writers.”

Billie Eilish has announced the release date and title of her new song for the forthcoming Barbie soundtrack.The ‘Happier Than Ever’ singer took to social media to reveal that she is one of the featured artists contributing to the highly anticipated film’s soundtrack. Eilish shared that the upcoming song ‘What Was I Made For?’ will make listeners “sob”.To announce the song, the 21-year-old singer shared a photo on Instagram of the Barbie logo with the track’s title written above it.

Tom Cruise still makes time to go to the theatre despite being one of the most famous faces in Hollywood.

Margot Robbie channels the 1960s Sparkling Pink Barbie for the Barbie press conference in Seoul, South Korea on Monday (July 3).

Kim Kardashian shared some heartwarming snaps of lookalike daughter Chicago West with her cousins on Sunday, following a fun -themed day together. Kim and sister Khloe Kardashian chaperoned the cute outing, as the pink-clad crew — which also included Khloe and Tristan Thompson's daughter, True Thompson, as well as Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna's daughter, Dream Kardashian, and Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott's daughter, Stormi Webster -- enjoyed the World of Barbie immersive experience in Santa Monica, California. The younger girls were all smiles as they posed together, with Stormi adorably propping a hand under her chin in a model-worthy pose. In another pic, the cousins embraced each other in tight hugs.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Disney’s “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” lassoed the top spot on domestic box office charts, collecting an underwhelming $60 million in its opening weekend. That’s a decent amount of money for a tentpole that’s aimed at older audiences, but “Indiana Jones 5,” one of the most expensive movies ever, cost $295 million before marketing. It’ll take a heroic feat, one that would test even an enduring legend like Indiana Jones, for the fifth installment in the decades-old franchise to become profitable in its theatrical run. It was a disappointing weekend at the box office as “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken,” a $70 million-budgeted family film from DreamWorks and Universal, cratered in its sixth-place debut with $5.2 million. In addition to “Dial of Destiny” and “Ruby Gillman,” the DC superhero adventure “The Flash” tumbled to the No. 8 spot in its third weekend of release with $5 million, another embarrassing 67% drop. It has yet to cross $100 million domestically, with ticket sales at $99.2 million to date.

Chrissy Teigen put her best foot forward on Thursday when she hilariously recreated Margot Robbie's infamous foot scene from the  film trailer. During a visit to Airbnb's Barbie Dreamhouse in Malibu, California, Teigen took the opportunity to kick off her shoes while keeping her heels high — but the move didn't go quite as seamlessly as she may have planned. While her kids can be heard calling, «Mommy, Mommy, Mommy!» in the background, Teigen struggles to remove her shiny pink shoes as a platform overlooking the Pacific Ocean wobbles beneath her. «Flawless!» she captioned the cute clip. Teigen's husband, John Legend, chimed in with a comment reading «Perfection,» as did star America Ferrera, adding a laughing emoji for good measure. A post shared by chrissy teigen (@chrissyteigen)On her Instagram Story, Teigen shared another peek inside the pop-up with her five-year-old son, Miles.

It’s a battle of the ages.