Eamonn Holmes says 'no chance' he'll be going to see Barbie movie

Audiences and critics have lavished praise on the film starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, with the movie making history as the biggest debut ever for a film directed by a woman, raking in around £293m so far around the world.

Meanwhile cinema chain Vue said more than 2,000 of the company’s screenings across the UK were sold out on the opening weekend.

On GB News on Tuesday, guests Nicola McLean and Andy Jones were discussing the new movie, with McClean defending the film from accusations it was “sexist”.

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Speaking ahead of the guests on the segment, Holmes left viewers in no doubt about his thoughts on the film, saying: "I haven't (seen it) and there's no chance I will be seeing it either.”

However, breakfast co-host Isabel Webster was more enthusiastic saying she wanted to go see the film.

At the weekend Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris was one of those going to the cinema to see the movie, posting a screenshot on social media of viewing times in his local cinema for Barbie.

During the conversation on GB News, TV personality McClean was asked her view on whether criticisms over the film for sexism were justified.

"Okay, so they're sort of saying that Barbie doesn't fancy Ken, she makes it clear she doesn't fancy Ken, she's made it clear that she doesn't need him to be financially stable, therefore Barbie is being horrible Ken and it's all really sexist,” she said.

"I can kind of understand what they're saying a bit. If a movie mocked women the way Barbie mocks Ken it would be cancelled.

"What I think is the pendulum might have swung more to women's favour for this Barbie-mania and let us have it.”

She added: "We are treated in a sexist way every single day! So if while Barbie's smashing it we can be top dog then it's a good thing."

According to the UK Cinema Association, the dual release of Barbie and Oppenheimer was the most successful weekend for UK cinema-going since Avengers: Endgame was released in 2019, with takings of £43.7m.

Tim Richards, chief executive and founder of Vue International, told the PA news agency: “We knew it was going to be a big weekend based on the advanced bookings, which were also the biggest since the pandemic.

“The numbers are phenomenal. We had over 500,000 customers come to Vue on the weekend alone. We had 4,000 sold-out sessions, 2,000 sold-out sessions for Barbie alone."

Northern Irish managing director of the Movie House chain Michael McAdam said he was blown away by the demand for Barbenheimer tickets.

“It was phenomenal,” he said. “In fact, our ticketing service, and a lot of ticketing services like ours were struggling to cope with the demand.”

“It really was incredible because you had two different films and some people took the opportunity to see both, which was quite a marathon,” he said.

“I haven't seen Barbie yet, but I've seen Oppenheimer and it’s a tough movie. It's a long movie. It's a very good movie, but it's a long movie.

“So everyone that did the double must have been exhausted by the time they came out. Their bums must have been really sore.”