Greta Gerwig should be feeling closer to fine these days. In just three weeks in theaters, “Barbie” is set to sail past $1 billion in global ticket sales, breaking a record for female directors that was previously held by Patty Jenkins, who helmed “Wonder Woman.”
“Barbie,” which Gerwig directed and co-wrote, added another $53 million from 4,178 North American locations this weekend and $74 million internationally, bringing its global total to $1.03 billion, according to studio estimates on Sunday. The Margot Robbie-led and produced film has been comfortably seated in first place for three weeks and it’s hardly finished yet. It crossed $400 million domestic and $500 million internationally faster than any other movie at the studio, including the Harry Potter films.
“As distribution chiefs, we’re not often rendered speechless by a film’s performance, but Barbillion has blown even our most optimistic predictions out of the water,” said Jeff Goldstein and Andrew Cripps, who oversee domestic and international distribution for the studio, in a joint statement.
In modern box office history, just 53 movies have made over $1 billion, not accounting for inflation, and “Barbie” is now the biggest to be directed by one woman, supplanting “Wonder Woman’s” $821.8 million global total. Three movies that were co-directed by women are still ahead of “Barbie,” including “Frozen” ($1.3 billion) and “Frozen 2” ($1.45 billion) both co-directed by Jennifer Lee and “Captain Marvel” ($1.1 billion), co-directed by Anna Boden. But, “Barbie” has passed “Captain Marvel” domestically with $459.4 million (versus $426.8 million), thereby claiming the North American record for live-action movies directed by women.
Warner Bros. co-chairs and CEOs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy also praised Gerwig in a statement and said the milestone, “is testament to her brilliance and to her commitment to deliver a movie that Barbie fans of every age want to see on the big screen.”
New competition came this weekend in the form of the animated, PG-rated “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” and the Jason Statham shark sequel, “Meg 2: The Trench,” both of which were neck-in-neck with Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” also in its third weekend, for the second-place spot.
“Meg 2” managed to sneak ahead and land in second place. It overcame its abysmal reviews to score a $30 million opening weekend from 3,503 locations. The Warner Bros. release, directed by Ben Wheatley, currently has a 29% critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes and a B- CinemaScore from audiences. The thriller was released in 3D, which accounted for 22% of its first weekend business.
Third place went to “Oppenheimer," which added $28.7 million from 3,612 locations in North America, bringing its domestic total to $228.6 million. In just three weeks, the J. Robert Oppenheimer biopic starring Cillian Murphy has become the highest grossing R-rated film of the year (ahead of “John Wick Chapter 4”) and the sixth-biggest of the year overall, surpassing “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.”
“Oppenheimer” also celebrated a landmark, crossing $500 million globally in three weeks. Its worldwide tally is currently $552.9 million, which puts it ahead of “Dunkirk,” which clocked out with $527 million in 2017, and has become Nolan's fifth-biggest movie ever. It's also now among the four top grossing biographies ever (company includes “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “The Passion of the Christ" and “American Sniper”) and the biggest World War II movie of all time.
Paramount’s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” was close behind in fourth place with an estimated $28 million from 3,858 theaters in North America. Since opening on Wednesday, the film, which is riding on excellent reviews (96% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audience scores, has earned $43.1 million.
“This is one of those movies that is a multigenerational joy,” said Chris Aronson, Paramount's president of domestic distribution. "I think the enduring popularity of ‘Turtles’ is showing its true colors. And there hasn’t been an animated film in eight weeks and there won’t be another for eight weeks which is great for us.”
“Turtles” cost $70 million to produce and features a starry voice cast that includes Jackie Chan, Ice Cube, Paul Rudd, Ayo Edebiri and Seth Rogen, who produced and co-wrote the film, which leans into the “teenage” aspect of the turtles.
“Barbie,” “Oppenheimer” and even the surprise, anti-trafficking hit “Sound of Freedom” (now at $163.5 million and ahead of “Mission: Impossible 7”) have helped fuel a boom at the box office, bringing in many millions more than was expected and helping to offset pains caused by some summer disappointments.
"After ‘The Flash,’ ‘Indiana Jones’ and, to a certain extent, ‘Mission: Impossible,’ people were saying the summer was a disappointment. But it's not over yet," said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “We’re going to have a summer that is going to go out on a high note.”
But the moment of triumph for the industry will likely be short lived if the studios can’t reach an agreement with striking actors and writers soon. The fall release calendar has already gotten slimmer, with some studios pushing films into 2024 instead of trying to promote them without movie stars.
Sony had planned to release its PlayStation-inspired true story “Gran Turismo” in theaters nationwide next Friday, but will now be rolling it out slowly for two weeks before going wide on Aug. 25. The thinking? If movie stars can’t promote the film, maybe audiences can.
"We have to be realistic," Dergarabedian said. “We’re on this emotional high of movies doing so well, but we have to temper our enthusiasm and optimism with the fact that the strike is creating a lot of uncertainty. The longer it goes on the more profound the issues become. But the audience has spoken and they love going to the movie theater.”
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24 Comments
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sakurasuki
That thanks to Oppenheimer too, thanks to Barbenheimer that being viral on the internet. Not so many movie being promoted together and get viral on the internet.
TokyoLiving
Please, I need a bucket...
PPPUUAARRGG!!...
Strangerland
This must be one of the least woke movies ever, based on the god-given rule of go woke go broke.
lostrune2
Both director Greta Gerwig and actress Margot Robbie consider "Barbie" a feminist movie with a strong main lead who addresses the good and the bad issues with Barbie, and having multiple Barbies to be each as valid as the original blonde Barbie. They wouldn't have done it otherwise
nogardflow
Personally, I'd like to thank the Right-Wing for all the free advertising.
Japantime
I haven’t seen it yet, but it sounds like this will be one of the greatest movies ever made. I’ve never heard of such a successful release in the time of the internet. I want to watch it today.
enmaai
Saw the movie with my 6 year old niece and she really loved it, Can't argue with that
Jimizo
Looks like making woke movies with female directors could be the way forward.
This one is incredibly successful.
They certainly threw their toys out of the pram over this.
wallace
So woke movies don't go broke.
Jimizo
Go for it.
I’m a bit like you with things like this.
I’m more of a reader than a film watcher but I wanted to see what the fuss was about with the Da Vinci Code and Harry Potter ( the first book ) and I thought they were okay. Literature is a bit pearls before swine with me though.
I must confess I can be a big prejudiced though. I heard about that QAnon film and just switched off. Crackpottery like that is just beyond the pale for me.
Paustovsky
Good grief Derek. You've been flogging the same dead horse for weeks now.
Jeremiah
Because the director is female, which means males and females are different, or because she is a talented human being, meaning talent is more important than one’s gender?
purple_depressed_bacon
Pity that people in Japan are missing out on this summer's greatest cinematic event. Barbie's an excellent movie - hilarious and heartfelt. Going to watch the movie in the theaters also added to the experience - never saw so many people in pink congregate in one theater hall before. And at the end ot my screening, people broke out singing and dancing to Aqua's Barbie Girl. It was awesome.
Clearly you haven't seen the movie. It's more than just "about a plastic doll". There's a reason why it's a hit at the box office and why it's resonated with so many movie goers.
itsonlyrocknroll
I cannot for the life of me drag my carcass to watch "Barbie" (and Ken), the genre does little, in fact nothing for me.
I am told from UK friends a clear feminist underlining message is afoot.
I simply could not take such a message seriously from the subject matter, Barbie and Ken let alone pay for the privilege.
I once had to sit through Ghostbusters 2016, my friends Birthday present, I had to make every effort persuading myself from gnawing the seat in front
I just cannot find “Wonder Woman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” mentally stimulating
The History Behind Barbie's Ken
https://time.com/6296386/barbie-ken-history/
All the same, I congratulate Greta Gerwig for a reputed box office soon to pass $1 billion in global ticket sales.
Now, however much I whine at pompous Tom Cruise insufferable vanity, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One is great fun and entertaining I would defiantly wholeheartedly recommend.
I half expected Cruise to pop up in his maverick helmet, still edge of the seat stuff.
I will be watching “Sound of Freedom” soon.
Paustovsky
I wouldn't bother. It's just virtue signalling from a bunch of SJW's. If those people put their money where their mouth is, their houses would be full of humans rescued from traffickers.
Jimizo
I remember that. I think Milo was a thing back then and had a hissy fit about it leading many to do exactly the same thing.
All very predictable.
What was so bad about it? Was it ‘woke’?
Woke doesn’t mean going broke at the box office. Barbie is absolutely killing it.
The QAnon thing? Really?
itsonlyrocknroll
Woke?
The film was an unnecessary remake, the humor, the comedy of the first I felt was lost.
The comedy strained falling flat.
Chris Hemsworth was miss cast, so loud and OTT -rendering his character toe curling unwatchable,
The film regurgitates joke after joke line after line from the original move.
Spontaneous in the first, sounding rather forced in the remake.
Jimizo just my opinion that's all.
I fear that “Oppenheimer” will sadly never be afforded a full release.
餓死鬼
The new Turtles film looks fantastic from the trailer. Love the animation style. Hopefully, it will get a Japanese release, though I suspect it will be released dubbed in Japanese only, at least in my local theatres.
I would probably give it a try out of curiosity (on rental, not at theatre prices). Heard that no wacky QAnon stuff is in the film itself. I mean, I can still watch the films Tom Cruise (despite his cultism) and Jackie Chan (despite his pro-CCP stance). Some unfortunate and ironic recent publicity for "Sound of Freedom" though:
https://www.newsweek.com/sound-freedom-funder-fabian-marta-arrest-child-kidnapping-1817498
FizzBit
Oh my GAAWD!
like wow
like that’s like fantastic
like…when’s Barbie 2 coming?
Wesley
Proof? Who verified this? How do we know it really is $1 billion?
Just because the media says so?
Roy Sophveason
Absolutely, this is entirely unconfirmed, especially the long term effects! Let's wait for long-term studies with randomized controlled trials!
Jimizo
Frantic attempts to save the patient here.
I think it’s time to call a priest in to administer the last rites on ‘Go woke, go broke’.
Let it go.
Wesley
The funny thing is, despite being a feminist movie, it's Ryan Gosling's Ken that's getting all the attention. More so than whatsherface, anyway.
I guess he has too much 'Kenergy' and he is 'Kenough'. LOL!
Steven Guy
There are lots of movies I don't bother seeing and Barbie is one of them.