Mattel shares rise after ‘Barbie’ rakes in $155M domestically in opening weekend

Investing.com — Mattel Inc (NASDAQ:) shares jumped in premarket U.S. trading on Monday after “Barbie,” a film centered around the toy company’s famous doll, became the highest-grossing movie so far this year domestically.

The pink-splashed picture starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling took home an estimated $155 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada during its opening weekend, according to distributor Warner Bros. (NASDAQ:), which has also seen its stock rise premarket.

“Barbie’s” admissions inched past the $146.4M raked in by “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” in April.

The figure also topped the $80.5M haul of “Oppenheimer,” the much-anticipated three-hour epic directed by Christopher Nolan.

“Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” — two vastly different but equally star-studded pictures — are being released as cinemas struggle against fierce competition from streaming services. Their popularity is a “watershed event” for Hollywood, argued Steve Frankel, Director of Research at Rosenblatt, in a note.

“[M]oviegoers embraced fresh ideas, rather than the steady stream of franchise films that have dominated the release calendar,” Frankel said.

When combined with other titles, the two releases drove $301M in domestic box office returns, the fourth-highest weekend on record, Frankel noted.