Barbie Movie: Every Box Office Record Broken So Far
Written by Luck Wilson on July 24, 2023
Barbie is off to a scorching hot start at the box office, already setting several records during its opening weekend.
The Barbenheimer internet sensation finally hit theaters, with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie opening on the same day.
Going against the norm, the viral intrigue likely pushed more people out to the theaters than would’ve gone if both films didn’t release during the same weekend.
As projections continued to soar in the days leading up to the July 21 release date, Barbie came out swinging with a dominant performance.
Barbie Breaks Box Office Records
Barbie grossed an estimated $155 million during its opening 3-day domestic weekend. Here are the seven box office records that Barbie has broken during its opening weekend.
Best Opening of 2023
The 2023 king of the box office, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, was trumped by Barbie during its 3-day opening weekend. Mario opened to $146.3 million.
Biggest Opening by a Female Director
Greta Gerwig’s latest film beat Captain Marvel (co-directed by Anna Boden) as the highest-grossing opening weekend for a film directed by a woman. Previously, Patty Jenkins held the record for Wonder Woman‘s $103.3 million opening.
No Sequel, No Problem
In addition, Barbie is the highest opening weekend for a non-sequel, non-remake, and non-superhero movie. Originality (based on an iconic fashion doll) wins this time.
Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling’s New World Record
Stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling have never had a film open to more money at the box office. Robbie’s previous highest was Suicide Squad ($133.7 million) and Gosling’s was Blade Runner 2049 ($32.8 million).
Step Aside, Toy Story
Barbie earned the biggest opening weekend ever for a film based on a toy. Toy Story 4 grossed $120.9 million during its opening weekend.
Who Needs IMAX? Not Barbie
Barbie beat The Twilight Saga: New Moon to take over as the biggest opening weekend of all time without any IMAX screens.
Fourth-Biggest Weekend Ever
With the help of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer ($80.5 million), this is the fourth biggest domestic weekend of all time ($301.4 million). This is only the fourth time in history that the total box office is over $300 million.
Adding on the international earnings, Barbie has grossed $337 million worldwide. Oppenheimer added $93.7 million internationally, making its global opening total $174.2 million.
How Historic Will Barbie’s Box Office Become?
Will there be a Barbie 2? Warner Bros. would be silly not to at least try and get Gerwig, Robbie, and Gosling back for another Barbie film.
Barbie may become only the second $1 billion earner in 2023. It will be hard to top Super Mario Bros.‘ $1.35 billion, but there’s not a ton of true competition coming out.
Films like Haunted Mansion, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and Blue Beetle coming out within the next month aren’t going to take much away from Barbie.
Another advantage Barbie has is that it’s not reliant on premium format screens like IMAX or Dolby. With Oppenheimer taking up most of them, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 dropped hard in its second weekend.
65% of Barbie‘s audience was female and 81% of audience members were younger than 35, per Box Office Pro.
A younger audience indicates that many young women and girls that grew up or are growing up with Barbie dolls are invested in this film. The over-the-top marketing certainly worked this time.
Barbie is now playing in theaters worldwide.
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