Technically, Barbie's $1.2bn box office haul is a few bob shot of Super Mario Bros.' $1.3bn take. But it's only on its third weekend, and Mattel's comedy hit is likely to be the biggest film of 2023.
"Barbie" raked in a stunning $155 million domestically in its opening weekend and last week joined the $1 billion club in global box office sales — a feat only achieved by about 50 films in history, adjusted for inflation, Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore, told CNN. While "Pink Fever" has slowed in the last week, "Barbie" is estimated to have earned $33.7 million this weekend to maintain its stronghold in the theaters. …
In an interview with Collider last month, Margot Robbie, who produced the movie in addition to playing the titular character, shared a premonition she had at a greenlight meeting with studios.
"I think I told them they'd make a billion dollars which, maybe I was overselling, but we had a movie to make!" she said.
Saw it this weekend. It was pretty funny! What I liked most about it is how Mattel allowed itself to be sharped by Greta Gerwig et al just a little bit more than you might expect. This might inspire other big corporations to allow themselves to make serious mistakes in pursuit of a similar self-promotional box office bonanza. For example, in a couple of years we might have a hilarious Nestle movie with Will Ferrell as a chocolate executive screaming at child laborers in Thailand. Or perhaps a faux-Bollywood musical biopic about Union Carbide's best lawyer, etc.
