Barbie keeps breaking box office records, bringing in at least $20 million per day since it was released. I’m not surprised. I was at a party over the weekend and everyone who had seen Barbie sat on one side of the room talking about it and how great it was; and everyone else was on the other, complaining about how hard it is to get tickets to see it since every showing in the area is sold out. Barbie is the moment right now so it makes sense it keeps smashing records at the box office and was the number-one movie in America for a second week in a row.
The first was the massive opening weekend, which was the highest for a movie directed by a woman, ever. (Also the highest gross of the summer.) The hits keep coming for Barbie and don’t look to be stopping anytime soon. It’s had the biggest opening week out of any movie this year, knocking The Super Mario Bros. Movie off the number one slot, with a take of $256.6 million to the latter’s $240.2 million in April. It was also the biggest opening week for a Warner Bros. movie ever, displacing Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, which has to sting a little for the director. Not only did he not appreciate Barbie opening the same weekend as his movie Oppenheimer, or Barbenheimer in general, but now Barbie has knocked another movie of his off its throne.
Additionally, Barbie set a single-day ticket record for Warner Bros. Per Forbes:
Barbie set single-day records for Warner Bros. on Monday and Tuesday, earning $26.1 million and $26 million at the box office, respectively, but remains well behind a roll of superhero flicks and franchise favorites for single-day box office wins.
If you’re wondering what movie sits at the top for all-time single-day ticket sales, it’s Avengers: Endgame. (Keep a mental note of that, I guarantee you that question will be asked at a trivia night one day.)
Barbie is also the best-performing movie ever for Warner Bros. Per Collider:
Barbie made $29 million on Friday [July 29], and will pass the $350 million mark by Sunday [July 31] after an estimated $95 million second weekend. This is one of the best second weekend performances ever, and the best in the history of Warner Bros.
[…]
For context, Barbie was expected to generate between $65 million and $85 million this weekend
The moral of the story here is, never underestimate Barbie. She’s had hundreds of careers in her life, why wouldn’t the Box Office Queen be one of them?!
According to Axios, Barbie is the 7th best second-weekend domestic box office take of all time (not adjusted for inflation.) Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the best, in case you want to file that away for later trivia use, too.
The Barbie soundtrack is also notching up wins. Per Forbes:
4. That’s how many songs from Barbie were listed on Spotify’s Top 50 Global list Friday, and two have spots on the Billboard Hot 100. “Dance The Night” by Dua Lipa is currently at No. 25 and “What Was I Made For” by Billie Eilish is at No. 34.
As I said, Barbie is the moment, and it’s good to see the movie and the people behind it getting all the love. If only Hollywood wasn’t running with the exact wrong takeaway from the movie’s success, and greenlighting dozens more movies about toy IPs instead of creating compelling stories that revolve around experiences outside of superheroes and car crashes. Oh well, let’s celebrate Barbie’s time in the sun now, and worry about everything that comes next, later.
(Featured image: Warner Bros.)
Published: Jul 31, 2023 03:50 pm