The anticipation in the weeks and months leading up to Greta Gerwig’s Barbie film was so real – we don’t think we’ve ever felt more excited for a film to drop.
Well, as it turns out, all of the insanely smart marketing surrounding the film – from creating a real-life Barbie dream house in Malibu, to film lead Margot Robbie’s pitch-perfect Barbie-inspired looks for the press run – has paid off. Literally.
In the two weeks since its release, Barbie has become the highest-grossing movie directed by a woman *ever*. Like, ever ever.
Jaap Buitendijk
Until recently, this accolade had been held by Patty Jenkins who’s 2017 Wonder Woman film grossed $822.8million (£648 million) at the box office worldwide after its release. In contrast, Greta’s Barbie amassed $356million (£280million) worldwide in its opening weekend alone.
Barbie has now surpassed $900million (£708million) at the box office, also making it (rightly so) the biggest film debut of the year.
In comparison, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer – which opened the same day as Barbie, leading many to do a double ‘Barbieheimer’ screening – has made $400million (£350 million) at the box office worldwide, less than half of its fuschia pink counterpart.
Barbie could well be on its way to surpass that coveted billion-dollar mark, but it would still have a way to go before it could be called the highest-grossing film of all time.
That currently belongs to James Cameron’s Avatar, which made $2.9billion (£2.2billion) worldwide after it opened in 2009, followed closely by 2019’s Avengers: Endgame which made $2.7billion (£2.1billion) and was directed by brothers Joe and Anthony Russo.
Dale Robinette
The fact that a solo female director (aka Greta) has been able to gross nearly £1billion with a film that isn’t a superhero movie or a needlessly long alien film (sorry), shows that original storytelling for women is in hot demand. Hollywood: if you make it, we will consume it. And put your trust in more female directors, they know what they’re doing.