It is the cultural phenomenon that gripped Britain and saw thousands of movie fans set themselves the challenge of watching both Hollywood blockbusters Barbie and Oppenheimer back to back.

But for one cinephile, completing the ‘Barbenheimer’ challenge – by seeing both Christopher Nolan’s intense atomic thriller and Greta Gerwig’s fluffy fantasy on the same day – was simply not enough.

Mitch Corrigan, from Glastonbury in Somerset, decided to see the two new releases on their opening day as well as the new Mission: Impossible offering, with less than 30 minutes separating each screening.

At a total run time of more than seven-and-a-half hours and involving a 300-mile round trip to London, the 22-year-old’s movie marathon was no small feat.

Having left his house not long after midnight, the freelance filmmaker’s first stop at was the IMAX at the capital’s BFI at 4.10am where he watched Oppenheimer in its specially enhanced format on 70mm film.

At a total run time of more than seven-and-a-half hours and involving a 300-mile round trip to London, the 22-year-old’s movie marathon was no small feat (pictured: Mitch Corrigan)

Cinephile Mitch Corrigan made his first stop at the IMAX at the capital’s BFI at 4.10am to watch Christopher Nolan’s intense atomic thriller

Mr Corrigan says he was so keen to watch the film on the day of its release at an IMAX cinema and the early screening was the only one he could get a ticket for.

Next he dashed over Waterloo Bridge to Leicester Square’s Vue cinema where he watched Barbie at 8am followed straight away by Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning Part One at the same cinema at 11am, just 30 minutes after the previous film finished.

Mr Corrigan told the Daily Mail: ‘I was shattered when Oppenheimer finished, but instead of going to sleep I then had to walk across the Thames to Leicester Square to see Barbie.

‘I don’t know what the right words are to describe my state of mind after Oppenheimer, I definitely wasn’t all there because I was just completely flabbergasted by what I had just seen – it was incredible.

‘The favourite of the three was definitely Oppenheimer if I had to pick, it was totally riveting, totally cinematic and it was just utterly enthralling.’

The freelance filmmaker dashed over Waterloo Bridge to Leicester Square’s Vue cinema where he watched Barbie at 8am

Rishi Sunak took the opportunity to join in by posting a pH๏τo with his family on social media with the caption ‘Barbie first it is #Barbenheimer’

He added: ‘Barbie was very timely whereas Oppenhiemer was timeless – and I have a good bet on which one people will be speaking about in 30 years.’

Both films took cinemas by storm over the weekend, with Barbie, backed by a mᴀssive marketing campaign, grossing £262 million, nearly double Oppenheimer’s £135million on the Friday and Saturday, according to industry bible Variety.

The Barbenheimer phenomenon was a huge hit in the UK, with Vue International last night saying that the weekend was its biggest for UK cinema ticket sales in four years.

The cinema chain said that a fifth of its customers, some of whom dressed up, had purchased tickets to see both films and it had more than 4,000 sell-out sessions across the country for both films.

Rival Odeon sold more than 200,000 advance tickets had been bought and over 10,000 guests were expected to see both films during the opening weekend.

Mitch Corrigan watched Mission: Impossible – ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Reckoning Part One at the same cinema as Barbie at 11am, just 30 minutes after the previous film finished

Across social media, the big debate was which film to see first and on Saturday night Prime Minister Rishi Sunak weighed in by posting a pH๏τo of his wife Akshata Murphy and their two children, clutching cinema tickets as they went in to see the Margot Robbie-starring flick.

He said in an Instagram post: ‘The family vote was only ever going one way…. Barbie first it is!’

Even Mission: Impossible star Tom Cruise did not want to miss out, despite the pairing threatening to take away from his own box office, with the seventh installment of his series opening with £182m in global sales.

Cruise said: ‘I love a double feature, and it doesn’t get more explosive (or more pink) than one with Oppenheimer and Barbie.’