Barbie's Record-Breaking Party In The Box Office Top 10 Finally Ends After 12 Weeks
All good things must come to an end, even for a record-breaking success like "Barbie." After a dozen weeks, well over $1 billion in ticket sales, and memes that will live on for years to come, director Greta Gerwig's acclaimed adaptation of Mattel's doll has finally fallen out of the top ten at the box office. This punctuates one of the most remarkable runs for any movie in history and serves to demonstrate just how well it has endured in the face of big competition for months. If there's a person at Warner Bros. who worked on this and hasn't taken a victory lap yet, now's the time.
"Barbie" placed number 12 on the charts over the weekend, adding $782,000 to its record-breaking total, per The Numbers. This is the first time since the film debuted on July 21 that it has not been in the top ten on the charts. It opened against Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer," which made for one of the most high-profile box office showdowns in history, and managed to hold strong against the many other big movies that have come down the pipeline since, including "Haunted Mansion," "Meg 2: The Trench," "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem," "Blue Beetle," "The Nun II," "The Equalizer 3," and "A Haunting in Venice," among others.
It was "The Exorcist: Believer" and its $27.2 million debut, as well as a slew of other holdovers, that finally kicked "Barbie" out of the top ten. The fact that the movie, which stars Margot Robbie in the lead role, debuted in the heart of the summer and we're now well into fall with it only now being edged out of the top ten is nothing shy of remarkable. This is a movie that had somewhat uncertain prospects heading into the year. Now? It stands alone as not just the biggest movie of 2023, but one of the biggest movies of all time. It is, if nothing else, a great time to reflect on what Gerwig, Robbie, and everyone involved accomplished here.
A box office run for the ages
"Barbie" has, as of this writing, amassed $1.43 billion worldwide. It managed to overtake "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" ($1.36 billion) to become the highest-grossing movie of the year. More than that, it now stands as the 14th highest-grossing movie in history, just above "Avengers: Age of Ultron" ($1.39 billion) and just below "Frozen II" ($1.45 billion). That is some pretty damn good company to be in. It very nearly matched last year's "Top Gun: Maverick" ($1.47 billion), which similarly felt like a miracle. But "Maverick" didn't have to contend directly with a juggernaut like "Oppenheimer," which has itself earned $939 million globally. The Barbenheimer of it all only adds to the narrative.
Additionally, "Barbie" stands alone as the biggest movie ever directed by a woman, overtaking "Captain Marvel" ($1.13 billion) to do so. Warner Bros. and Mattel took a pretty big risk by giving this movie a $145 million budget, as that is territory generally reserved for superheroes, "Star Wars," or something of the like. It's not surprising that a toy this popular got a live-action movie. It remains a little shocking that it was made at this scale, particularly given Gerwig's unique take on the material. This was a PG-13 movie with a lot to say, and that was not the obvious way to go. But Gerwig and all involved were rewarded for their creativity.
The lingering question is whether or not we are going to get a sequel. One assumes that once the Screen Actors Guild strike is over, it will become a top priority for both Warner Bros. and Mattel. In the meantime, the toy company has plenty else in the hopper as they're planning an entire cinematic universe worth of adaptations.
"Barbie" is in theaters and on Digital now.