Some of Britain’s biggest cinema chains may have been in the red of late, but the industry was in the pink over the weekend as the simultaneous releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer filled theatres on both sides of the Atlantic.
Vue, which has 226 cinemas, including 88 in the UK, prepared early for the “Barbenheimer” rush after advanced bookings reached their highest level since the release of Avengers: Endgame in 2019. According to the Cinema Association, the opening weekend generated almost £30 million in box-office takings in the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
Tim Richards, 64, chief executive of Vue, described ticket sales for the films as “extraordinary . . . Across our circuit, we did two million people from Milan to Copenhagen to
