Adam Starkey 2–3 minutes
Barbie has become the highest-grossing movie in Warner Bros. history.
Greta Gerwig’s fantasy comedy passed the $1.342billion mark at the global box office on Monday (August 28), beating Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows – Part 2 to become the company’s highest-grossing film ever, not adjusted for inflation.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Barbie is set to become only the 13th movie in history to cross the $600million mark at the US box office later this week. As of Sunday, the film has grossed over $592.8million in the US, and $745.5million in the rest of the world.
The film is also set to beat The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($1.36billion) as the highest-grossing film of 2023 globally in the coming days. When it crosses the milestone, Barbie will become the 15th highest-grossing film of all time.
In a statement to mark the record, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group co-CEOs, Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, said: “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.”
Barbie previously surpassed Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight to become the highest-earning film in Warner Bros. history in the US. Since it was released in July, the film has also become the highest-grossing live-action movie solely directed by a woman.
Starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, Barbie released on the same day as Nolan’s latest film Oppenheimer, creating the “Barbenheimer” phenomena which boosted the success of both films at the box office.
In a four-star review, NME wrote: “What follows is a nuanced, rose-tinted comedy adventure, set to a stonking pop soundtrack featuring Lizzo and Billie Eilish, that somehow lives up to the immense hype. To borrow a pun from Ken’s coolest jacket (out of a long lineup), Barbie is more than ‘kenough’.”
I enjoyed most of the movie, but started getting bored about 3/4 of the way through. Then I was really disappointed with the final political messages. I thought it was going to show a resolution through inclusion and equality, but they seem to continue the power imbalance at the end and even dedicated a scene to showing that they will not give any of the Kens any representation in their government, basically keeping things as they were before. The core message seems to be “use manipulation and deceit to get power, and then keep that power solely for your own group”. Did anyone else feel that way? Did I misinterpret something?
Sort of, but the Kens did run the society extremely poorly and then try to kill each other. Remember these are dolls. Ken is literally created to be a stupid himbo.
Yeah, the Barbies ran everything but clearly the Kens were not up to the job. The best outcome is the Kens learning to be their own people, not Barbies’ accessories. It not a real society, it’s about personal growth.
Right, the movie takes place in make-believe universe. But the messaging is definitely supposed to represent real world issues and perspectives, and I was disappointed that they didn’t use it to share a message of equality at the end.