While Barbie and Oppenheimer are admittedly an unlikely duo, these highly anticipated movies blew the box office out of the water during their weekend premieres. The double-header film release grossed $302 million according to Comscore, making it the fourth-biggest weekend in box office history.

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Barbie, led by film’s director Greta Gerwig became the highest U.S. opening ever for a film directed by a woman. This weekend reaffirmed that movie theatres are still as strong as ever, bouncing back from the global pandemic.

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Over the weekend, moviegoers of Barbie and Oppenheimer posted their theatre experiences and movie reactions on social video. From the Friday premiere on July 21st to Monday, July 24th, videos about the Barbie movie amassed over 1.2 Billion Views on TikTok alone.

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The top-viewed video so far? Creator Nate Mccallum’s reaction to the surprisingly deep meaning behind the bubblegum pink doll movie that received 18.1 M views in 3 days. The video also featured a song from the Barbie, “What Was I Made For?” by Billie Eilish – another great way to get videos boosted within social algorithms.

Oppenheimer videos had over 693M TikTok video views over the weekend. Top Oppenheimer videos also included fan reactions (mostly how their moods drastically changed before and after watching) but also discussed star Cillian Murphy’s Oscar-worthy performance and the epic iMax technology and cinematography created by director Christopher Nolan. The top TikTok sound for Oppenheimer videos originated from a chilling clip from the real J. Robert Oppenheim himself. The sound has amounted to 39.7M video views over the past 3 days.

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The real star of the weekend was the insane amount of cross-promotion that both movies achieved – rightfully named “Barbeheimer”. The hashtags #barbieheimer and #barbenheimer (as we dig into more below) gained 169M views on TikTok over the weekend – with many fans filming themselves walking from one movie to the next with moviegoers changing outfits from their Barbie pink attire to more ominous clothing to watch the next drama.

What can we learn from this record-breaking weekend at the box office?

1. Cinema is back like it never left – and box office & social video agree. Culturally relevant movies the world’s most iconic doll and historic references like making of the atomic bomb helped to generate excitement pre-premier. The endless user-generated content and film reactions continue to convince others to go see the movies for themselves.

2. There is a great opportunity for toys and other legacy brands to break into film. Barbie’s success inspires brands worldwide because it illustrates how fans react when a beloved icon is reimagined for the big screen. We are constantly reminded how our modern culture has a widespread appreciation for nostalgia. Up next? Mattel is planning 17 more movies based on its famous toys and brands — here they all are.

3. Social is_ the_ place for pre-premier promotion, as well as a place to connect with fans and understand reactions post-premier.