New York
CNN
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“Barbie” has broken several records since its July 21 opening and the summer blockbuster is close to breaking another one.
Writer-director Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” looks set to take the top spot for 2023’s top-grossing domestic film, trailing “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” by $48 million.
“Barbie” grossed $155 million domestically in its opening weekend and last week joined the $1 billion club at the global box office — a feat accomplished by only about 50 movies in history, adjusted for inflation, Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at ComScore, told CNN. While “Pink Fever” was down last week, “Barbie” earned an estimated $33.7 million this weekend to maintain its stronghold in theaters.
The comedy about the mascot has grossed an estimated $525 million domestically and $1.2 billion worldwide. “Barbie” took in $10 million on Friday alone, averaging more than $11.3 million per day from Aug. 5-11. “Barbie” crossed the $500 million domestic mark midway through its third week, while “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” needed more than five weeks to reach the milestone.
The combined release of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” dubbed “Barbenheimer,” has become a pop culture sensation and could revitalize the struggling theater industry. Overall, Barbenheimer had the fourth-highest-grossing industry weekend of all time in North America, with a total of $302 million. Unlike “Barbenheimer,” high-grossing films often include elaborate action sequences and special effects.
“I’ve been in this game for 30 years, and the ‘Barbie’ and ‘Barbenheimer’ phenomenon is unprecedented, it’s unpredictable,” Tergarabedian said.
He said the film’s marketing campaign was the first hint that “Barbie” was a box office smash.
“The marketing campaign for ‘Barbie’ set in motion a chain of events that led to the word ‘Barbenheimer’ being added to the popular lexicon, sharing its release date with ‘Oppenheimer,’ and we all knew it was something very special. And unique, not just for the film’s opening weekend, but for its worldwide run in theaters.” It’s going to create a much bigger effect than expected,” Tergarabedian said.
In an interview with Collider last month, Margot Robbie, who produced the film in addition to playing the titular character, shared a premonition she had in greenlight meetings with studios.
“I told them they’d make a billion dollars, maybe I’d oversold, but we’ve got a movie!” she said.
“Barbie” is distributed by Warner Bros., which owns CNN’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery.
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