The fantasy comedy-drama film ‘Barbie’, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, has achieved a remarkable milestone by surpassing $1 billion in global box office earnings within just its third weekend.
In an Instagram announcement, the creators celebrated this achievement with a special post, expressing gratitude to Barbie enthusiasts worldwide for turning their Barbie aspirations into reality. The caption read, “Cheers to our incredible Barbies and Kens from around the globe for bringing our Barbie dreams to life. We are thrilled to reveal that #BarbieTheMovie has reached the $1 Billion mark at the Global Box Office.”
According to US-based media outlet Variety, this accomplishment establishes director Greta Gerwig as the first-ever female filmmaker to independently helm a film that has grossed over a billion dollars.
Variety also reports that three other billion-dollar blockbusters were co-directed by women: ‘Frozen’ ($1.3 billion) and ‘Frozen 2’ ($1.45 billion), co-directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck, and ‘Captain Marvel’ ($1.1 billion), co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.
‘Barbie’ achieved this milestone just 17 days after its release, making it the quickest Warner Bros. release to join the exclusive billion-dollar club. This surpasses the previous record held by the fantasy drama film ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2’, which accomplished this feat in 19 days.
This year’s second blockbuster and the sixth since the pandemic began to cross the $1 billion mark, ‘Barbie’ follows in the footsteps of ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, ‘Jurassic World Dominion’, and ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’, according to Variety.
Directed by Greta Gerwig, ‘Barbie’ stars Margot Robbie as the iconic doll and Ryan Gosling as her boyfriend Ken. The film hit theaters on July 21.
Variety also notes that ‘Barbie’ made an impressive $155 million during its opening weekend, setting a new record for the biggest debut ever for a film directed by a woman.
