'Barbie' Comes Out On Top And Joins the $1B Club
Greta Gerwig is living the “Barbie Dream" as the first solo female director to break $1B at the box office. ‘Barbie’ made an astonishing $1.03B globally within its first three weeks, had the biggest opening weekend for a movie directed by a woman, earning $155M in the U.S., achieved the record for the biggest-ever debut for a movie directed by a woman, and was the second 2023 film to hit the $1B mark (after ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’).
Bang Showbiz
With a resume highlighting more than 200 careers, Barbie has been anything and everything from doctor, astronaut, and fashion designer to Nobel prize winner, Olympian, and Air Force pilot. After barely three weeks at the box office, Gerwig’s third solo-directed film, ‘Barbie’, made history as the first movie to gross $1B globally with a solo female director. Gerwig has a long history of accomplishments and accolades, such as being nominated for three Oscars for her award-winning film ‘Lady Bird’, winning the 2020 Critics Choice Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (Little Women), and taking home three awards from the Alliance of Women Film Journalists.
Gerwig’s recent accomplishment is a sensational one. Only 52 movies (now 53) have made over $1B in global box office history and Gerwig is now the 29th person and the first woman in Hollywood history to have solo-directing credit on a billion-dollar movie. The previous record for the biggest movie solo directed by a woman was Parry Jenkins’ ‘Wonder Woman’, which grossed $821M globally in 2017.
Despite the number of women working in the cinematic field being at an all-time high, men have typically dominated the film industry, especially in roles such as cinematographer and director. However, with solo female-directed films such as ‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘Barbie’ breaking records, women are continuing to prove that movies featuring and created by women can and will succeed. ‘Barbie’ was released the same weekend as Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’, and of the iconic ‘Barbenheimer’ duo, ‘Barbie’ came out on top, financially speaking.
Justine Goode ; NBC News / Universal / Warner Brothers
The film also surpassed Nolan’s award-winning movie, The Dark Knight, which became Warner Bros. Pictures’ biggest-selling movie for a Monday in 2008. The studio, which celebrated its 100-year anniversary in April, has never had a movie sell tickets as fast as Gerwig’s. According to the Times, the previous record was for ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2’, which made it to $1B in 19 days in comparison to ‘Barbie’ making it in 17.
Whether you’re team ‘Barbie’, not vibing with the existential questions it raises, or just hoping to have a little fun and relive your childhood dreams, the sensational pink-clad film has proven itself a hit.
FEATURED IMAGE VIA JAAP BUITENDIJK/WARNER BROS.
