Double bills of Barbie and Oppenheimer have given the Light House cinema in Dublin and the Pálás in Galway their busiest weekend on record.
Greta Gerwig's Barbie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, starring Cork star Cillian Murphy, saw 6318 cinemagoers attend screenings at The Lighthouse, while 2623 people took in the films in the Pálás.
The movie phenomenon has been dubbed "Barbenheimer" and has been hailed as a boost to cinemas following a post-pandemic slump in ticket sales.
With screen averages for Barbie in the Republic of Ireland hitting €26,057 and €14,650 for Oppenheimer, the Light House managed to double that and also took the number one spot for the top performing site in UK and Ireland for Oppenheimer on 35mm and landing in the Irish top ten for Barbie.
The weekend included the first public screenings of Oppenheimer at midnight, and Breakfast with Barbie at 8.00am on Friday morning. Galway native and Derry Girls and Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan made it a family affair and popped in to Pálás on Sunday to see herself on the big screen in her blink-and-you’ll-miss-it role as Diplomat Barbie.
"Whether it was staying up past midnight to see the fir
st 35mm Oppenheimer or getting up at 8am for a Barbie breakfast or digging something pink out of the back of the closet, our customers and staff embraced these two films with gusto!" said Alice Black Head of Programming at the Light House.
"The sense of occasion was palpable in both our cinemas this weekend. This weekend reminded everyone of the pure joy of going to the movies!"
