The 'Barbenheimer' Phenomenon Is Actually Helping The Economy; Here's How

A good film can do many things for individual directors, struggling industries and even national economies.

Raking in more than $2.9 billion worldwide and still the highest-grossing film of all time, the 2010 film "Avatar" pumped more than $307 million into the economy of New Zealand alone. (A large number of the scenes were filmed in the country.)

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While not yet at that level of success, the double theatrical whammy known as "Barbenheimer" released in theaters July 21 has already managed to show up in economic data. Both Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" and Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" film about the "father of the atomic bomb" have collectively brought in more than $500 million on the opening weekend in the biggest theatrical hit since the 2019 release of "Avengers: Endgame."

Entertainment Spending Is Up And It's All Thanks To 'Barbenheimer'

Collectively, the two movies are also already the fourth-largest debut in North American history.

As first reported by CNN, Bank of America  (BACXL) - Get Free Report data shows that its cardholders spent 13.2% more on entertainment in the week ending on July 22 than they had in 2022. During other weeks in July, spending in this category was roughly equivalent to the past year. Overall spending on everything excluding car gas was only up by 1.9% during the same time period.

The numbers are, according to the bank, no coincidence but "likely partially driven by the release of the much-anticipated movies, 'Barbie' and 'Oppenheimer.'"

When asked about how skyrocketing demand for certain movies and concerts (think Taylor Swift!) impacts an economy generally driven by inflation and more careful spending, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that "overall resilience" is largely a "good thing."

"At the margin, stronger growth could lead, over time, to higher inflation and that would require an appropriate response for monetary policy," Powell said during a July 26 press conference for media outlets. "So we'll be watching that carefully and seeing how it evolves over time."

Inflation Is Slowing Down But People Are Still Careful With Their Spending

While inflation has been slowing down and fell to the lowest level since March 2021, months of price jumps have generally pushed consumers to be more careful in their spending.

Entertainment and other "fun" expenditures are usually the first to take a hit during rough economic periods -- an earlier survey by CNBC found that more than 92% of Americans cut back spending in some form amid inflation while 58% of those did so in their entertainment budgets.

While doing wonders for Mattel  (MAT) - Get Free Report's stock, the success of "Barbie" and other movies also has wider implications for the rest of the economy -- their snowballing popularity helps with sales of not only the tickets themselves but also everything from toys, clothing and other themed merchandise. The success of one fuels spending in the other.

"The 'Barbie' lunchbox with Thermos has already sold out, and the 'Barbie' sunglasses have already sold out," Alamo Drafthouse Cinema's Field Marketing Director Mike Sampson told the Financial Times. "It’s all really selling well."

"The blowout success of Taylor Swift's 'Eras' tour, combined with the record box office juice of the 'Barbie' movie, is helping to buoy the economy and prevent a recession," Emily Peck and Felix Salomon wrote for Axios.