There’s no end to Barbie‘s magic tricks.
On Monday, Greta Gerwig’s movie is passing up the $1.342 billion grossed globally by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2 to become the top-grossing film in the history of Warner Bros. at the worldwide box office, not adjusted for inflation. Barbie‘s domestic gross through Sunday was $592.8 million, while its foreign tally was $745.5 million. (On Wednesday or Thursday of this week, the summer pic will become only the 13th movie in history to cross the $600 million mark domestically.)
The records broken by Barbie — starring Margot Robbie as Mattel’s famous fashion doll — are numerous. The box office blockbuster notched another major milestone Aug. 16 when passing up Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight to become the biggest Warner Bros. movie ever in North America.
And last week, Barbie passed up Illumination and Universal’s runaway blockbuster The Super Mario Bros. Movie at the domestic box office to become the top-grossing title of 2023 in North America. It’s expected to pass up Super Mario Bros.‘ global gross of $1.36 billion in the coming days to become the top worldwide earner of the year. That would put Barbie at No. 15 on the all-time list of top-grossing movies.
Once it achieves that milestone, Barbie will next set its sights on strutting past Frozen II‘s worldwide war chest of $1.43 billion to rank as the top-grossing movie of all time — whether live-action or animated — from a female director.
Gerwig is already the highest-grossing female director of a live-action movie at the worldwide box office, as well as the highest-grossing female director of all time at the domestic box office.
“Reaching this outstanding achievement is a reminder of the power of moviegoers — from countries in every corner of the globe — coming together to further the celebration of an iconic character that has entertained us for so many decades,” Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group co-CEOs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy said in a statement. They also gave a shout-out to the cast, including Robbie, Ryan Gosling and America Ferrara, alongside co-writer Noah Baumbach and producers David Heyman — who shepherded the Harry Potter franchise — and Robbie’s husband and producing partner, Tom Ackerley.
While the movie was mostly done by the time the duo arrived on the Warner lot, Abdy is said to have played a key role regarding certain last-minute production decisions. (And De Luca and Abdy oversee distribution and marketing.)
It’s hard to say whether Barbie can ultimately hit $1.5 billion globally, but analysts aren’t ruling anything out.
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