Barbie created more buzz than any movie in recent memory, and its box office numbers reflect the film’s enormous success. This highly-anticipated comedy knocked it out of the park with an epic $337 million global opening and shattered several major box office records.
The first live-action film inspired by Mattel’s iconic doll hails from the acclaimed director Greta Gerwig, and it’s led by Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. It shows Barbie experiencing an existential crisis and setting off from Barbieland to the Real World to find her true purpose.
The marketing team for Barbie pulled all the stops with the film’s promo tour, but even they couldn’t have predicted what a success it would be. It significantly exceeded projections, earning $337 million during its opening weekend, with $155 million generated in North America and an additional $182 million in other territories.
By doing so, Barbie scored the highest-grossing weekend for a female-directed film. This also marks the largest opening weekend for a film in 2023, and the highest-grossing weekend for a film based on a fresh IP, that’s not a sequel, remake, or superhero film.
Barbie premiered on July 21, along with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, and many moviegoers saw them as a double feature as a part of the viral Barbenheimer trend, fueling the fourth-biggest box office weekend in history.
