“Barbie” has answered the billion-dollar question with a resounding “yes.” Barely three weeks into its run, writer-director Greta Gerwig’s Barbie blockbuster has raked in an astounding $1.03 billion at the global box office, according to official Warner Bros. estimates.
This makes Gerwig the first female director with a billion-dollar movie.
As one half of the viral “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, it isn’t shocking “Barbie” has performed well. And, standing on her own two feet, the doll’s incredible success not unexpected at all.
“I’ve been in this game for 30 years and the Barbie and Barbenheimer phenomenon is as unprecedented as it was unpredictable,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.
According to Dergarabedian, only about 50 films in history, unadjusted for inflation, have hit the billion-dollar mark.
He added the movie’s marketing campaign was the first hint “Barbie” would be a box office smash. “The marketing campaign for ‘Barbie’ set into motion a chain of events that led to the word ‘Barbenheimer‘ being added to the popular lexicon by virtue of its shared release date with ‘Oppenheimer,’ and that’s when we all knew something very special and unique was going to create a much bigger than expected outcome for the film not only for the opening weekend, but for its global run in theaters.
But Berry, who researches Chinese cinema and pop culture, says Barbie is still iconic around the world, giving the movie a solid springboard for international acclaim.
“Children in hundreds of countries… have grown up with the dolls, her imagery… (but) the film exploits that name-recognition in a very savvy way by playing into both the Barbie lovers and Barbie haters,” he said. “The film is also able to deftly walk a tightrope that appeals to both naïve and wide-eyed eight-year-old dreamers, who approach the film on one level, and adult audiences, who are able to interpret the film on an entirely different level, full of irony, humor, sexual innuendos, and allegory.”
