Barbie Dominates Box Office : “Barbie,” directed by Greta Gerwig, has topped the box office for four weeks in Los Angeles. The film has aged well. The company predicted $33.7 million for the film’s strong performance on Sunday.
Margot Robbie’s Warner Bros.-branded masterwork is still playing in 4,137 cinemas worldwide. It’s astonishing that it’s been able to defy this year’s box office trends and comfortably reach $500 million in North American sales. The movie crossed $1 billion worldwide a week prior. This remarkable accomplishment solidifies Greta Gerwig’s pioneering female filmmaker status.
“Oppenheimer, the second half of the powerful duo, has reclaimed its prestigious place at No. 2 by showing its own spectacular four-week voyage.” Christopher Nolan’s Universal Pictures film, which sold $18.8 million in 3,761 theaters, was a hit. The film’s 264.3 million domestic total adds to the studio’s successful year.
Top players played well. “The Last Voyage of the Demeter,” Universal’s most anticipated new film, debuted in fifth place with $6.5 million. This placed it among the new films.
“Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” grossed $15.6 million in its second US weekend. It was the week’s third highest-grossing film. “Meg 2: The Trench,” starring Jason Statham, garnered $12.7 million in its first weekend, falling from second to fifth on the box office list in its second week.
“Barbie” leads the 2023 best film race with $526.3 million domestic and $1.18 billion foreign revenues. It’s second only to “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which grossed $574.2 million in North America and a staggering $1.358 billion worldwide in spring. The spring’s second most popular film after “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” “Barbie” is also pleased to be Warner Bros.’ second-highest-grossing film, behind 2011’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.”
Mattel’s success has improved a poor year for cinema. Strong word of mouth kept huge sequels like “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part I” in the top 10 this week, bringing in $4.7 million in ticket sales.
“Barbie” still intrigues Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian. Dergarabedian believes it may govern for a long time since it shows no symptoms of relinquishing its top status. “Oppenheimer”‘s unusual coupling boosts both films in a box office NASCAR race. “Oppenheimer”‘s unique construction helps too.
“Barbenheimer,” released mid-summer, has pushed the industry’s summer performance ahead of 2022, which was unclear a month ago. When we look at how much “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” added to these weekends at the movie office, we realize that Dergarabedian was right—the cumulative effect is stunning.
North American summer movies grossed an incredible $3.63 billion. With “Blue Beetle” from DC Comics, “Gran Turismo” from the video game series, and “The Equalizer 3” from Denzel Washington still coming out in August, the box office could hit $4 billion, a domestic benchmark for a strong summer performance and a sign of a resurgence that has been building since the start of the year.
