‘Barbie’ Breaks $500 Million At U.S. Box Office—Further Cementing Itself As Summer’s Blockbuster

Topline

Summer blockbuster Barbie surpassed the $500 million ticket sale mark in the U.S. on Saturday, marking yet another milestone in the movie’s buzzy and historic run in theaters.

Key Facts

Barbie grossed $502.6 million domestically and nearly $1.1 billion globally as of Saturday, according to data from Box Office Mojo, eclipsing its reported $145 million budget by several times.

The smash hit is the second highest-grossing movie this year and is creeping up behind the Super Mario Bros. Movie, which notched a little more than $574 million in ticket sales domestically.

Barbie is estimated to have raked in more than $40 million from Monday to Friday this week, furthering its lead on movies like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Fast X and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

Barbie has maintained momentum despite the release of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Meg 2: The Trench, which have cumulatively collected more than $100 million since their August release dates.

Big Number

22. That’s the number of days it took Barbie to surpass $500 million in domestic sales.

Tangent

AMC Theaters experienced a 15.6% revenue jump to $1.35 billion in the second quarter, noting in its earnings report it achieved its highest quarterly attendance in years.

Key Background

Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig, captured the biggest opening weekend of the year so far and the biggest-ever opening weekend for a female-directed movie. Much of the movie’s hype was linked in media to the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, which urged moviegoers to see Barbie and Christoper Nolan’s Oppenheimer on the same day. Although Nolan’s R-rated nuclear bomb thriller didn’t match Barbie’s numbers, the movie ranks No. 6 in global box office sales this year, bringing more than $577 million so far.

Further Reading

‘Barbie’ Tops $1 Billion At Global Box Office (Forbes)

The ‘Barbie’ Movie Is A Massive PR Victory For Mattel, And Baby Names Prove It (Forbes)

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2023/08/12/barbie-breaks-500-million-at-us-box-office-further-cementing-itself-as-summers-blockbuster/