Vue hails 'biggest movie weekend' since Avengers: Endgame hit screens in 2019 ... trends now

The release of Barbie and Oppenheimer gave Vue its 'biggest movie weekend' since Avengers: Endgame was released, the cinema chain's boss said today.

The company, which has 91 cinemas in Britain, said a fifth of its customers had bought tickets to see both films in a double bill dubbed online as 'Barbenheimer'.

Vue International chief executive Tim Richards hailed an 'absolutely extraordinary weekend' for the firm with more than two million people watching Barbie alone.

Some 2,000 of Vue's screenings for Barbie were sold out, while the chain had more than 4,000 sell-out sessions across the country during the weekend.

The two films, released last Friday, have contrasting storylines, with Greta Gerwig's comedy about the famous doll Barbie, and Christopher Nolan's biographical thriller about physicist J Robert Oppenheimer's role in developing the first atomic bomb.

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People outside the Vue West End cinema in London's Leicester Square on Friday as Barbie and Oppenheimer were released on the same weekend - giving the chain bumper ticket sales

Barbenheimer also brought moviegoers back to US cinemas in record numbers - vastly outperforming projections and giving hope amid the backdrop of strikes. 

Mr Richards, who is also the founder of Vue and chair of the British Film Institute, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme this morning: 'It's been an absolutely extraordinary weekend. We knew that it was going to be a big weekend.

'What this last weekend proved is that our customers never left us after the pandemic, it's been a supply issue and we need movies. If you look at this last weekend, it was the biggest movie weekend since 2019 when the Avengers Endgame was released and that was the second biggest movie of all time.

'We had over two million people see Barbie alone on the weekend - and it's not just Barbie, it's not just the big tentpoles. It's also smaller films - black and white movies like Belfast, adult comedies like Ticket to Paradise, every customer, every demographic, has returned. We just need more movies. We are very bullish in the future and this weekend has helped proved it.'

Vue's biggest sites for Barbie included Cambridge, Glasgow St Enoch, Leeds Kirkstall, Cwmbran, Islington, Bolton and Portsmouth.

The company said the film, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, will exceed ticket sales for Super Mario Bros and Oppenheimer to become the biggest film of the year.

Asked about the context of ongoing strikes in Hollywood, Mr Richards added: 'The timing is unfortunate, but the stakes are very high on both sides and we are hoping for a quick resolution to the strike.