This summer’s biggest blockbuster Barbie continues to break records and make box office history in the four short weeks since its release – and this Barbie is totally not shocked!
The highly anticipated film, directed by Greta Gerwig, hit $1 billion at the global box office last week – only three weeks after its July 21, 2023 theatrical debut. On Wednesday, August 16, 2023, Barbie officially became the highest grossing Warner Bros. movie ever at the domestic box office, surpassing the previous champ, Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008) according to a statement from Warner Bros. Additionally, the film has crossed the $1.2 billion mark, ranking among the top 25 highest grossing domestic movies of all time, Box Office Mojo reported.
Another milestone for Barbie goes to Gerwig for becoming the first solo female movie director to have her film reach $1 billion at box office. Further, the film had the biggest opening achieved by a female director, according to a report from Entertainment Tonight.
The blockbuster film stars Oscar nominees Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in the iconic roles of Barbie and Ken, respectively. The movie follows Barbie as she ventures into the “Real World” to solve an existential crisis brought on by a series of newly-discovered malfunctions that don’t jibe in her typically-perfect, plastic world. Along the way, she quickly learns that the “Real World” is not quite like “Barbie Land.”
Dressed head to toe in pink (of course!), fans flooded movie theaters, completely selling out showings. On Barbie’s opening day alone, the film brought in $70.5 million, earning the film the biggest opening day so far for 2023. It also beat Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’s $51.8 million opening day on June 2, 2023. In fact, Barbie had the biggest opening weekend for any movie that isn’t a sequel, according to Variety.
Barbie has also made Warner Bros. history as having the biggest opening weekend and Monday for the company. It was also the fastest Warner Bros film to reach $1 billion, the company reported.
Specifically, the film’s opening weekend grossed a total of $155 million at the box office, making it the biggest domestic opening of 2023. Barbie’s marketing campaign is expected to have cost around $145 million, meaning in just the movie’s opening weekend alone, the film broke even, according to Variety.
Fans have propelled the film to have the biggest opening for a movie based on a toy. More so, it was the biggest opening ever for Robbie and Gosling respectively, pop-culture website Deadline reported.
Barbie wasn’t the only film that opened on July 21. The film shared an iconic opening weekend with Oppenheimer, leading to the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon born on social media. Riding the Barbie box office wave, Oppenheimer had $82.4 million during its debut weekend and just hit $650 million globally, according to CNBC.
Despite not even being a month old, Barbie fans are already begging for a sequel. However, at this time Gerwig, Robbie and Gosling do not have deals in place to return for a Barbie sequel.
In the meantime, Barbie fans can revisit Barbie on-demand – the movie expected to be streamable on Max this fall, according to Deadline. But why wait until then? Head back to local theaters (in pink, of course!) and enjoy the film in person while you still can!
Bye Barbie!