Raphael Stevens

Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” and Universal’s “Oppenheimer” open this weekend.
Dubbed “Barbenheimer” the two films are expected to collectively boost the domestic box office.
“Barbie” is expected to tally upwards of $140 million in ticket sales and “Oppenheimer” set to grab as much as $60 million.

Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer and Margot Robbie as Barbie
Julien De Rosa | AFP | Getty Images; Stuart C. Wilson | Getty Images

This weekend at the box office is all about atomic bombs and blonde bombshells.
Typically when two big movies from two different studios hit theaters at the same time, it’s a competition for ticket sales. That’s not the case with Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” and Universal’s “Oppenheimer.”

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Dubbed “Barbenheimer,” the dual release of these potential blockbusters is more complementary, with many moviegoers planning a double feature trip to cinemas
“Ever since we knew that these two films were going to open on the same weekend there’s just been instantly a pop culture phenomenon,” said Erik Davis, managing director at Fandango. “It’s been the most anticipated weekend of the year.”
The two films couldn’t be more different, with “Barbie” centering on the iconic Mattel doll navigating life outside of Barbie Land, and “Oppenheimer” documenting how the father of the atomic bomb crafted the first nuclear weapons.
Yet, audiences have gravitated towards both titles. This excitement is much needed for the domestic box office after a string of recently released big-budget flicks fell short of expectations.
Heading into the weekend, “Barbie” is expected to capture at least $90 million in domestic ticket sales, with some box office analysts projecting the film could tally upwards of $140 million. Meanwhile, “Oppenheimer” appears destined to snare between $40 million and $60 million.

The two films could together generate $200 million over their opening frame. With additional ticket sales from “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and “Sound of Freedom,” it could be the highest-grossing weekend of the year so far.
Major movie chains have indicated that ticket sales are strong for both films this weekend and additional shows have been added to accommodate demand.
Some 40,000 AMC Theatre loyalty program members have purchased tickets to see Barbie and Oppenheimer on the same day and the National Association of Theatre owners project that more than 200,000 moviegoers will attend same-day viewings of the two films.
“Going into this weekend anticipation has been very high for both ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer,'” said Jeffrey Kaufman, chief content officer at Malco Theatres. “Media coverage and the public embrace of the #Barbenheimer tag shows awareness and excitement for both releases.”
And much of the appeal comes from the films’ celebrated filmmakers.
Greta Gerwig (“Lady Bird,” “Little Women”) has only a few films under her belt as a director, but she’s already solidified a place among Hollywood’s famed auteurs. Her films center on women and feature witty dialogue and a strong emotional core. Gerwig is one of only seven women to be nominated for best director at the Academy Awards.
Audiences got their first taste of Gerwig’s take on the iconic Barbie doll back in December with a minute-long teaser trailer that spoofed Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.” This would not be your typical Barbie movie.
Future trailers showcased the bubblegum pink Barbie Land that kids and kids at heart have known for more than 60 years and revealed the film’s plot. After an existential crisis, Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling) head to the real world for some answers.

Then there is Christopher Nolan, who has cultivated an ardent fandom from films like “Memento,” “The Prestige,” “The Dark Knight,” “Interstellar” and “Dunkirk.”
Nolan’s films are known for their complex storytelling, bombastic sound and imagery designed for the biggest screens.
“Oppenheimer” is a three-hour opus centered on physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) as he relentlessly works to develop the first atomic bomb during World World II.
“‘Barbie’ has emerged as the frontrunner to claim first place over the weekend with its massive brand appeal courting an underserved female audience, but ‘Oppenheimer’ should have a long fuse to burn as Christopher Nolan’s films typically do,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com
“Oppenheimer” will get a boost from premium format ticket sales, as audiences opt to watch the film on the biggest screen possible. Nolan’s flick is expected to control around 70% of all premium showings, which includes screens like IMAX, Dolby Cinema and ScreenX, this weekend. These tickets average around $17 a piece, according to data from EntTelligence.
General admission tickets, which include premium and standard digital showings, are expected to average around $14 each.
For “Barbie,” general average ticket price is slightly lower, at around $12, as the film will play in fewer premium auditoriums over the weekend.
These two films arrive in theaters following a slew of adult-aimed blockbusters that have underperformed at the box office.
“Unfortunately, the last three blockbusters — ‘Flash,’ ‘Indiana Jones’ and ‘Mission Impossible’ — all were by forecast estimates, underperformers,” said Kaufman. “This trend along with news cycle coverage of the Guild strikes and the loss of cast members availability for promotion stops may dampen things.”
“Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” likely won’t take a hit from a lack of publicity. Both films’ marketing campaigns were in full swing just ahead of the strike and both casts were able to participate, at least partially, with film premieres.
Viral videos of the pink-clad “Barbie” actors promoting the film and discussing their “Kenergy” have been circling social media for weeks alongside bubblegum-colored merchandise tie-ins and an Airbnb Dream House.
The marketing for “Oppenheimer” has been a little more muted in comparison, with actors and director Nolan touting its recreation of a nuclear detonation without the use of CGI and the importance of exploring the life of Oppenheimer.
“Exhibition is navigating a very nuanced balancing act with respect to programming two incredibly high-profile films with ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer,'” said Steve Buck of movie data firm EntTelligence. “The winner is simple – the moviegoer.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. More

Hollywood A-listers are skipping out on San Diego Comic-Con this year as the SAG-AFTRA strike prohibits actors from promoting studio contracted work.
More than two dozen panels have been canceled at the annual comic convention.
Fans still plan to attend the event to enjoy comic panels, autograph sessions, unique con-exclusive merchandise and cosplay.

Visitors and cosplayers at a poster at San Diego Comic-Con.
Ullstein Bild | Ullstein Bild | Getty Images

San Diego Comic-Con will return to is roots this weekend, as Hollywood A-listers skip out on promotional panels and walk picket lines in Los Angeles.
Actors went on strike last Friday, effectively shutting down the film and television industry.

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As part of their strike, actors are not permitted to promote any work tied to TV or theatrical contracts with studios. That means no interviews, premieres, social media posts and no conventions.
“The timing of these strikes significantly impacts an important promotional event like Comic-Con,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “This is often the venue used as a launching pad for marketing machines behind some of the most anticipated fan-driven content coming up in theaters and across the entire media landscape.”
That means no Timothee Chalamet and Zendaya to hype up “Dune: Part Two,” no Quinta Brunson to chat all things “Abbott Elementary” and no Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell to preview the long-awaited “Good Burger 2.”
But, even without top talent, SDCC will still kick off Thursday.
“Comic-Con is not going away,” said Robert Thompson, a professor at Syracuse University and a pop culture expert. “The show can still go on in San Diego. Comic-Con is so big that it’s even bigger than the biggest stars.”

Heading into the weekend, many of Hollywood’s studios had already decided to sit out of SDCC’s festivities.
Both Marvel and DC have shared their upcoming slates of comic book films and TV shows, leading both to bow out of marquee Hall H presentations this year. It will be the first time since 2011 that neither franchise studio will have hosted a panel in the coveted, marquee 6,500-seat space.
Now, with actors unable to promote their projects, more than two dozen panels have been canceled. That includes presentations from Amazon’s “Wheel of Time,” Freevee’s “Jury Duty,” ABC’s “Abbott Elementary” and the 25th anniversary panel for “That ’70s Show.”
Typically, actor-focused panels make up between 25% to 30% of a regional comic-con’s programming. At San Diego Comic-Con that percentage can be as high as 40%, industry experts told CNBC.
“We share the disappointment that a resolution could not be reached that would have avoided the current situation,” a representative for SDCC said in an emailed statement. “We are excited that Comic-Con is only a matter of days away and we look forward to the expansive Exhibit Hall, the countless hours of programming, and the comradery that makes Comic-Con such a fun and unique community and experience.”

More than Hollywood

Of course, San Diego Comic-Con isn’t just about celebrity talent hawking their newest, nerdiest content. There’s a sprawling floor packed with merchandise from top pop culture retailers like Funko, Entertainment Earth, Hasbro, Gentle Giant and Loot Crate, an artist’s alley packed with artists selling original artwork, autograph stations, and themed on-site activations for popular movies and TV shows. And then there’s the cosplay.
“We’re big movie fans and that’s definitely a part of why we go to cons, to talk to the people involved in productions and hear about what’s coming up,” said Justin Wilder, 36, an assistant director of digital communications in Rhode Island. “It’s been a bit of a bummer to see the reports of different things being canceled.”
Wilder, who is attending his first San Diego Comic-Con this year, is also a panelist at the event for the X-Men Fandom Panel. He told CNBC that while his badge was comped by the convention, he paid out of pocket for his hotel and airfare, which tallied near $3,200 for him and his wife.

He said that even if he wasn’t scheduled on a panel, he would still have made the trip.
“There are plenty of activities that I’m interested in beyond film and TV that will still be happening” he said, noting that the Hellfire Gala, a costumed party based on a popular X-Men comic, was of particular interest.
Many attendees of the upcoming convention told CNBC that they still plan to go regardless of the canceled panels and smaller pool of celebrity appearances. After all, comic creators are still able to attend and promote their work.
San Diego Comic-Con, which launched in 1970, started with just 300 attendees and top comic book and science fiction names like Jack Kirby and Ray Bradbury. Over the decades, it has grown beyond comic books to encompass a larger range of pop culture genres like horror, fantasy, anime, toys and video games, and now exceeds 130,000 attendees annually.

Fewer lines, more crowding

“I used to be able to walk in Hall H in 45 minutes,” said Jason Chau, 46, a sales audit manager from Forest Hills, New York. “The popularity of Marvel, ‘Twilight,’ ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Walking Dead’ made the demand on badges crazy.”
Chau has attended SDCC since 2008. He typically spends much of the convention photographing cosplay, attending comic panels and picking up an autograph or two. Chau’s costs to visit San Diego and attend the convention are similar to Wilder’s, but with the added $285 for a four-day badge.
He said that when the convention began to gain more attention from Hollywood, he avoided Hall H presentations, which often require attendees to wait in line over night in order to get a seat. So far, only one Hall H panel has been canceled in the wake of the actor’s strike, with Legendary Entertainment bowing out of the slot.
Still, with more than two dozen panels off the books, SDCC will need to contend with increased foot traffic. Part of the planning process for these types of conventions, is the idea that a certain percentage of attendees will always be standing in line somewhere.
“I’m concerned with all those big panels canceled, how that’s going to affect traffic flow in the exhibit hall,” Wilder said.
Wilder is no stranger to comic conventions, having attended New York Comic Con, Rhode Island Comic Con, Terrificon and Wicked Comic Con.
“For SDCC I’m just trying to keep a positive mindset,” he said.
Those selling merchandise on the show floor are a bit more optimistic about the possibility of larger crowds.
“I think it’s going to be great for fan interaction,” said Ashley Anderson, director of community and social at collectible company Super7. “I mean, you’re going to be able to really emphasize the fan more so than before.”

Pain for studios

The lack of celebrities is more likely to hit the studios themselves. After all, the publicity of having stars boycott promotional activities reflects directly back at Hollywood’s producers, who have already been lambasted in the press for purportedly underhanded tactics.
“Not having some of pop culture’s biggest names at Comic-Con or elsewhere to support their latest projects is a loss for the convention and for fandom in the short term,” Robbins said. “In the bigger picture, it highlights the industry’s fight for low-and-middle class wage earners.”
Several SDCC attendees told CNBC that they are disappointed that some panels have been canceled and some celebrities will not be attending the event, but understand why it is happening.
“It’s unfortunate timing, but what they’re asking for makes a lot of sense,” said Wilder of the strike. “AI technology has the potential to transform a lot about the film and TV industry and people are concerned with their job security. I don’t want people to blame the actors or writers for the con being different, they’re just trying to make sure they get a fair deal for their work and aren’t being taken advantage of.”

Coupled with potentially bad publicity, studios are also losing out on some major promotional opportunities at the convention. Sure, the companies can still play trailers, hang up billboards and sponsor interactive fan activations, but a lot of the viral social media moments come from having actors on scene doing interviews and publicly hyping up shows and films while interreacting with fans and each other.
“Comic-Con [is] one great big promotional infomercial for the big studios and the streamers,” said Thompson. ”
And studios need this marketing, especially after a softer-than-expected summer movie season.
“We’ve already seen several adult-aimed blockbusters underperform this summer during a time when, perhaps not coincidentally, some outlets such as talk shows weren’t airing or hosting guests to promote movies like ‘Mission: Impossible,’ ‘Indiana Jones,’ and ‘The Flash,'” said Robbins.
Upcoming potential blockbusters like Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” and Universal’s “Oppenheimer” had strong marketing campaigns ahead of the strike, and likely won’t feel pain from the actors strike, but others might not be so lucky.
“Studios and theaters are relying on a great deal of content to deliver strong box office results in the coming months and next year,” Robbins said. “Both will endure a period of revenue regression amid the broader post-pandemic recovery if these labor conflicts aren’t resolved soon, likely causing a domino effect of release delays and rushed or unfinished productions. Those are consequences theater owners really have no control over. Unlike Covid, however, Hollywood executives do.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC. NBCUniversal is a member of the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. More

Netflix has removed its basic, ad-free plan from its list of options for new subscribers in the U.S. and U.K.
The move comes shortly after Netflix’s introduction of its cheaper, ad-supported option.
Netflix has also begun rolling out its password-sharing policy, pushing freeloaders to pay for their own accounts.

The Netflix logo displayed on a phone screen and its website on a laptop screen are seen in this photo taken in Krakow, Poland, June 8, 2023.
Jakub Porzycki | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Netflix has gotten rid of its cheapest commercial-free plan in the U.S. and the U.K., in a push to get more sign-ups for its recently launched ad-supported option.
On its plans and pricing page, which outlines all subscriber options, Netflix noted that the basic plan, which cost $9.99 and didn’t feature ads, was no longer available for new or rejoining members. Current subscribers of the plan won’t be affected unless they choose to change plans or cancel.

The move leaves Netflix’s standard with ads plan, which is priced at $6.99 a month, as its cheapest option.
During last quarter’s earnings call, Netflix Chief Financial Officer Spencer Neumann said the “economics” of its ad-supported plan were higher than the basic plan. “It’s actually even higher than our standard plan,” he said during the call, adding that advertising was incremental to both its revenue and profit.
Former Netflix co-CEO Reed Hastings admitted late last year that he was slow to embracing advertising on the streaming platform because he was so focused on digital competition from tech companies. Shortly after, co-CEO Ted Sarandos said during an investor conference that Netflix was likely to offer multiple ad-supported tiers over time.
The standard and premium plans without ads cost $15.49 and $19.99, respectively, a month.
Netflix, similar to other media companies, has been looking to boost streaming profits, and advertising has been considered a key step toward making that happen.

Similarly, Disney CEO Bob Iger has said the company is leaning into its ad-supported streaming option to get to profitability.
Netflix launched the ad tier late last year. Similar to its recent crackdown on password sharing, the plan was introduced after Netflix saw subscriber growth stagnate and looked to other options to boost revenue.
In May, Netflix told advertisers it had five million monthly active users for the ad tier, and 25% of new customers were signing up for the plan where it’s available.
Netflix will report earnings after the bell Wednesday, and investors will be paying close attention to how the new sharing policy and ad-supported plan have affected subscriber additions and revenue. More

Carvana has reached a deal with noteholders to reduce the used car retailer’s total debt outstanding by more than $1.2 billion, the company said Wednesday.
The agreement was announced in conjunction with the company’s second-quarter earnings.
In a separate public filing Wednesday, the company said it will sell up to $1 billion in shares as it attempts to raise capital and restructure its operations.

A Carvana glass tower sits illuminated in Oak Brook, Illinois, Feb. 23, 2022.
Armando L. Sanchez | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

Carvana has reached a debt restructuring agreement that will reduce the used car retailer’s total debt outstanding by more than $1.2 billion, the company said Wednesday.
Carvana said the agreement will eliminate over 83% of its 2025 and 2027 unsecured note maturities and lower its required cash interest expense by more than $430 million per year for the next two years.

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In a separate public filing Wednesday, the company said it will sell up to $1 billion in shares as it attempts to raise capital and restructure its operations.
Shares of the company jumped more than 30% in premarket trading Wednesday after being off roughly 7% before the announcement. Carvana stock this year has soared from roughly $4 per share to start the year to roughly $40 as of Tuesday’s close. That is still about 90% off from the stock’s all-time high of nearly $377 notched in August 2021. 
“This transaction significantly increases our financial flexibility by reducing our total debt, extending maturities, and lowering near-term cash interest expense as we continue to execute our plan of driving significant profitability and returning to growth,” Carvana CFO Mark Jenkins said in a statement.
Carvana said its restructuring agreement covered roughly $5.2 billion of senior, unsecured bonds and included Apollo Global Management, its largest bondholder. Under the terms of the deal, creditors will get new secured notes. The new debt will also come due later than the old notes.

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Carvana’s stock performance in 2023.

The company’s long-term debt to end the second quarter was $6.5 billion, slightly lower than nearly $6.6 billion to end last year.  That represented a majority of Carvana’s total liabilities of nearly $9.3 billion to end the second quarter, Carvana reported.

The company has been working on such a deal for more than a year as the stock went into freefall due to a heavy debt load and improper management during the coronavirus pandemic.
The agreement was announced in conjunction with the company’s second-quarter earnings. Here’s what Carvana reported.

Loss per share: 55 cents vs. an expected loss of $1.15 per share, according to average analyst estimates compiled by Refinitiv.
Revenue: $2.97 billion vs. $2.59 billion expected, according to Refinitiv.

The company reported a net loss of $105 million, or 55 cents per share. That’s an improvement from the net loss of $439 million, or $2.35 per share, it recorded in the year-ago period.
Revenue of $2.97 billion was down, however, from $3.88 billion a year ago.
The company’s total gross profit per unit, or GPU, which is closely watched by investors, was $6,520 during the second quarter, an increase of 94% compared with a year earlier and exceeding the company’s previous best quarter by 27%.
“Our strong execution has made the business fundamentally better, and combined with today’s agreement with noteholders that reduces our cash interest expense and total debt outstanding, gives us great confidence that we are on the right path to complete our three-step plan and return to growth,” Carvana CEO Ernie Garcia said in a statement.
Carvana reported adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $155 million compared with a loss of $216 million a year earlier.
Correction: This story has been updated to correct the characterization of Carvana’s debt load prior to its restructuring deal. More