'Barbie' Global Box Office Eyes 'Top Gun Maverick's Total Haul

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The Big Picture

  • The movie Barbie has surpassed $1.4 billion worldwide, making it the 14th film in history to achieve this milestone.
  • Director Greta Gerwig has a successful track record with hits like Lady Bird and Little Women , and Barbie is expected to be another Oscar contender for her screenplay.
  • Despite Gerwig's potential schedule conflicts, Mattel plans to continue the franchise, but it's uncertain if Gerwig will be able to direct future Barbie movies.

The legendary “Barbenheimer” event has delivered over $2 billion in global grosses, almost bringing the theatrical marketplace back to pre-pandemic heights. Both Barbie and Oppenheimer helped bring this year’s summer movie season to within touching distance of how things used to be back in 2019. And there’s more reason for the two blockbusters to celebrate this weekend. While Oppenheimer approaches $900 million globally, Barbie has now passed the $1.4 billion mark worldwide, becoming only the 14th film in history to pass this milestone.

The movie added an estimated $5.5 million in its eighth weekend of release in domestic theaters, taking its running tally to a staggering $620 million. The satirical comedy drama has made an additional $782 million from overseas territories, for a worldwide cumulative total of $1.403 billion in just under two months of release. Barbie is the highest-grossing movie of the year both domestically and worldwide, having recently overtaken The Super Mario Bros. Movie on both counts. It will now set its sights on overtaking the lifetime global haul of last year's biggest film, Top Gun: Maverick, which finished with just under $1.5 billion.

The film’s success will no doubt go down in history. Sure, it’s based on established IP like so many other big-budget releases these days, but Barbie also unquestionably plays like a movie that only writer-director Greta Gerwig could’ve made. Having made a name for herself years ago in the mumblecore movement, Gerwig has made gradual progress in her filmmaking career. She made her solo directorial debut with the coming-of-age comedy-drama Lady Bird, and followed it up with the literary adaptation Little Women.

Greta Gerwig Has Always Been a Hit-Machine

Like Barbie, both those movies were also critical and commercial hits. Lady Bird grossed nearly $80 million worldwide, and earned Gerwig an Oscar nominations for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay. Little Women grossed over $200 million globally, and earned Gerwig her third Academy Award nod, this time in the Best Adapted Screenplay category. Barbie is already an Oscar front-runner, with Gerwig once again a contender in the screenplay category. She co-wrote the film alongside her partner, filmmaker Noah Baumbach.

While Gerwig initially said that she doesn’t have ideas for a Barbie sequel, Mattel fully intends to proceed with the franchise no matter what. But with Gerwig committed to directing two Narnia movies for Netflix, it remains to be seen how she works her schedule around, because it wouldn’t be a Barbie movie without her at the helm.

The film stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in the lead roles as Barbie and Ken, alongside a sprawling supporting cast that includes Issa Rae, America Ferrera, Will Ferrell, Kate McKinnon and Michael Cera. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.

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