AMC Says 20,000 People Already Booked Their Own ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ Double Features

AMC Theatres says over 20,000 fans have already purchased tickets to see both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” on the same day, making all those “Barbenheimer” double feature memes a reality.

According to Elizabeth Frank, EVP Worldwide Programming & Chief Content Officer with AMC Theatres, the theater chain has even had a spike of 33 percent higher ticket sales for both films between Friday and today among people excited to make their own double feature.

To be clear, AMC is not hosting its own double feature event screening both movies back-to-back. And you can’t get both movies for the price of one ticket. But enough fans two weeks out from both movies opening on July 21 are already committing to see both films — and enough press has already asked the question of the theater chain — that it prompted AMC to share the staggering numbers.

Those 20,000 people are all AMC Stubs members, so it could be well more than that and doesn’t include people seeing it anywhere else in the country. But both movies are now available for presale through AMC, and AMC is even offering collectible “Barbie” merch once the film hits theaters.

“That more than 20,000 moviegoers have already made plans and purchased tickets to see ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ on the same day is a great sign that the growing online conversation around seeing both of these incredible films is turning into ticket sales,” Frank said in a statement. “Just as exciting, with 10 days to go until these movies open, this may only be the beginning. From Friday to today, we saw a 33 percent increase in the number of guests who decided to create their own double feature by purchasing tickets to see both movies on the same day. We are thrilled to see this momentum.”

Both movies figure to be box office hits, with tracking for Warner Bros. and Mattel’s “Barbie” sitting between $70-80 million in its opening weekend, and that number is only poised to go up after the world premiere from last night in Los Angeles stoked interest even further (this writer attended, and it’s terrific).

Universal’s “Oppenheimer” sits at a lengthy three hours, but Christopher Nolan is no stranger to cinematic spectacle and drawing a dedicated crowd, and that film is tracking between $40-50 million and will depend on its premium large format and IMAX screens to make its money. The movie has a monopoly on IMAX screens when it opens, despite appeals from Tom Cruise on behalf of “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning.”