Topline
Barbie soared past the $500 million domestic earnings mark this weekend by earning another $33.7 million at the box office, according to multiple news outlets, inching the feminist film toward the title of the year’s highest-grossing movie and continuing a dominant summer run alongside Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
An employee adds letters for upcoming film releases “Oppenheimer” and “Barbie” to a marquee at the … [+]
Key Facts
It was another weekend of success for blockbuster darlings Barbie and Oppenheimer, which held the No. 1 and 2 spots at the box office and earned another $33.7 million and $18.8 million from Friday to Sunday, respectively, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
This weekend’s haul makes Barbie among the films with the top 10 largest fourth weekends in history, and pushed it to a total of $526.3 million at the domestic box office.
Oppenheimer was the second-highest grossing film this weekend, pushing it to a total domestic pull of $264 million and $649 million at the global box office, making it director Christopher Nolan’s fifth-largest film ever behind The Dark Knight, Inception, Interstellar and Dunkirk.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem earned $15.8 million this weekend and Meg 2: The Trench, which was the second-highest grossing film last weekend, fell to fourth with $12.7 million for a total domestic earning of $54.1 million.
Last Voyage of Demeter, a Dracula film with a $45 million budget, debuted this weekend to $6.5 million and Disney’s Haunted Mansion, which premiered the day after the start of the actor’s strike, earned $5.6 million in sixth place.
What To Watch For
Barbie isn’t far from surpassing The Super Mario Bros. Movie as the highest-earning film of the year in terms of U.S. sales. Another $48 million will put Barbie in the top spot.
Surprising Fact
Barbie’s earnings over the past week gave Greta Gerwig the title of the highest-grossing female director of all time domestically, beating Frozen II. Gerwig is also now the highest-grossing female director of a live-action movie worldwide, surpassing Captain Marvel, and the first-ever solo female director with a movie that earned more than $1 billion globally.
Greta Gerwig attends the “Barbie” European Premiere at Cineworld Leicester Square on July 12, 2023 … [+]
Key Background
Taking the top spot for female-directed flicks adds to a long list of records held by Barbie since its July debut. Barbie broke the record for the biggest opening weekend for a female director and the biggest domestic opening ever for a non-superhero film or sequel, and it’s the fastest female-targeted movie to hit the $300 million mark. The “Barbenheimer” craze—driven by fans who noted the dichotomy of the two films releasing the same weekend and attended double features in droves—made the opening weekend for the two films the fourth-biggest opening weekend of all time at the box office. Mattel said it will release at least 14 more toy-inspired movies after the success of Barbie—Lily Collins is set to star in and produce a “Polly Pocket” movie directed by Lena Dunham, and Daniel Kaluuya is slated to produce a “Barney” film.
Big Number
22. Barbie surpassed $500 million in domestic sales in 22 days.
Tangent
Fans’ love of Barbie stretches well beyond the movie theater doors. Searches for Barbie as a potential baby name have surged 603% according to website Nameberry, and searches for Ken are up 293%.
Further Reading
‘Barbie’ Breaks $500 Million At U.S. Box Office—Further Cementing Itself As Summer’s Blockbuster (Forbes)
‘Barbie’ Sequel Is Inevitable. ‘Barbie For President’ In 2028? (Forbes)
‘Barbie’ Broke A Lot Of Records—But Not All Of Them—Here Are The Movies That Kept Their Titles (Forbes)
The ‘Barbie’ Movie Is A Massive PR Victory For Mattel, And Baby Names Prove It (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/08/13/barbie-and-oppenheimer-continue-box-office-dominance-for-fourth-week-raking-in-combined-525-million/