Barbie continues to kill it at the box office as Greta Gerwig’s baby pink-drenched tour de force is now the first female-directed flick to gross over a billion dollars globally.
Here’s to our incredible Barbies and Kens from all around the world for making our Barbie dreams come true. We’re excited to share that #BarbieTheMovie has hit $1 Billion at the Global Box Office. 💞 pic.twitter.com/3q4DOTvFoe
— Barbie Movie (@barbiethemovie) August 6, 2023
After its third weekend, Barbie brought in $459 million in the North American markets. Also, overseas earnings went past approximately $572 million, according to Comscore.
The House of Barbie
Barbie has turned out more moviegoers than expected in China. It has made over $28 million after the number of screens it’s being played on eventually quadrupled from 9,000 to 36,000. Despite its pro-feminist themes and LGBTQ+ characters, it seems the Chinese market – or at least, young girls – don’t believe that Barbie is too sexy for her plastic shoes.
Barbie hit an additional £7.9 million, bringing it up to £67.5 million in the UK and Ireland after the third weekend. It also had particularly strong showings in both Mexico and Brazil.
In India, home of the biggest film industry in the world, Barbie continues to trail Oppenheimer. However, there are over a thousand more screens featuring the Christopher Nolan film. It’s been reported that two-thirds of the movie-going population is male.
Barbie Movie: Billion-dollar questions
Since Barbie has toppled industry expectations, what could the fallout be for the shake up of gender tropes? Will Gerwig’s thoughtful way of questioning these fossilized clichés have a positive impact? As Barbie has brought us to a pivotal moment, will it be a catalyst for filmmaking moving forward?
We can only watch in anticipation as the unpredictability of the box office does its own dance with the iconic doll and possibly, the fate of the XX construct.
