!["Barbie" has biggest opening day of 2023, "Oppenheimer" not far behind](https://assets2.cbsnewsstatic.com/hub/i/r/2023/07/23/d5e2f9f9-0315-44a4-816c-db77a2b71298/thumbnail/1200x630/723143b5cf4c255b04cfbe697829eaac/gettyimages-1545558833.jpg?v=8be0a296491a12ce38351fd824e37a16)
"Barbie" has biggest opening day of 2023, "Oppenheimer" not far behind
CBSN
Director Greta Gerwig's all-pink "Barbie" had a glamorous estimated opening day at the box office Friday, bringing in $70.5 million — the biggest opening for any film in 2023 so far.
The massive figure, reported by Variety, beat out June's "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse," which made $51.8 million on its opening. The number combines the $22.2 million "Barbie" earned in previews on Thursday, and $42.8 million on Friday, playing in 4,243 theaters.
"Barbie," a Warner Bros. Discovery movie — and Mattel's first foray into the film industry — had an intense marketing campaign leading up to its release — from a real life Barbie Dreamhouse in Malibu, to licensing deals with fast food chains. And based on its box office success, it paid off.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250206040405.jpg)
More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250206003957.jpg)
In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.
![](/newspic/picid-6252001-20250205185317.jpg)
The quick-fire volley of tariffs between the U.S. and China in recent days has heightened global fears of a new trade war between the world's two largest economies. Yet while experts think the battle is likely to escalate, they also say the early skirmishes offer hope for an agreement on trade and other key issues that could head off a larger conflict.