Well, it looks like we’re getting a Barbie Universe now. Barbie has defied all expectations and has SOARED to well over a billion dollars at the box office…which means it’s now the highest grossing domestic Warner Bros. movie EVER!
The Dark Knight has at last been dethroned.
Despite having absolutely no foothold in the live-action filmmaking genre and its origins as a girl’s doll, Barbie has surpassed $1.1B at the global box office to not only become the highest grossing live-action movie of the summer, but also now being the highest grossing Warner Bros. film of ALL-TIME! And, whether you like the film or not, you’ve got to give it credit for being the summer’s biggest box office success.
Now, I know this news is going to be a little upsetting for some people as they just can’t stand Barbie and its rather obvert political messaging (which is quite annoying at times), but the fact of the matter is that this film is the biggest success in 2023 and for Warner Bros.
As of me writing this article, Barbie has currently amassed $531M at the domestic box office, $660M at the international box office, and $1.191B at the global box office to beat out films like Oppenheimer ($649M), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ($845M), Fast X ($704M), The Little Mermaid ($566M), Mission Impossible 7 Pt.1 ($522M) to top all live-action films and only trails The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($1.3B) for being the highest grossing film of the entire year.
Let me say that again: a live-action movie about Mattel’s Barbie doll, the 80-year-old plastic figure that hasn’t had any stake in cinema beyond animated films, made $1.1B at its cinema debut and is on track to surpass all films of 2023 to be the highest grossing movie of the year.
That’s just an insane fact and a testament to how beloved the Barbie doll still is with the millions of little girls (and adults too) around the world. The film is already the highest grossing success at the box office for all the major actors and directors involved, such as Margot Robbie (Barbie), Ryan Gosling (Ken), and Greta Gerwig (the director), and it’s very hard to see how any film apart from Dune Pt. 2 has a chance of surpassing Barbie’s success.
Yet, the achievement that really caught my attention was how Barbie is now the highest grossing film in Warner Bros.’s domestic box office HISTORY!
(Warner Bros. Discovery-Barbie-Main Trailer)
This is a studio that released Robin Hood (1938 OG version), Inception, The Dark Knight trilogy (The Dark Knight was the previous record holder at $533M), The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Harry Potter series (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II currently has the highest international box office total of $1.34B for Warner Bros.), Dune, Casablanca, A Star Is Born (1953 OG version), The Searchers, Bonnie and Clyde, 2001: Space Odyssey, The Exorcist, Superman (1978 OG version), The Shinning, Blade Runner, National Lampoon’s Vacation series, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Goodfellas, 1980’s Batman duology, The Shawshank Redemption, The Matrix, and Paddington Bear.
I know that’s a long list of reading to do, but do you see these films? That’s an ALL-TIME legends list worth of movies Warner Bros. has released in the company’s 100 years of history and not a single one of these films surpasses Barbie for gross domestic box office haul…sort of.
I’m not trying to take away from Barbie after spending all of this article praising the movie, but the reason why Barbie has beaten out the likes of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Dark Knight trilogy, Casablanca, Robin Hood, Bonnie and Clyde, etc. is because of inflation.
Each and every one of the films I just listed all beat out Barbie at the domestic box office if you compare their 2023 inflated box office to their original box office hauls and price of tickets.
Hell, the OG Robin Hood film would have made nearly $90M at the box office by today’s standards if they kept the original ticket prices of just 25¢! For comparison, Barbie movie tickets are ranging anywhere from $10.50-$18/person…which would be the grand total for 42-72 people (or nearly half of most modern-day theaters) in Robin Hood’s day.
Again, maybe the headlines of Barbie being the highest grossing Warner Bros. box office film of all-time is a bit of a misnomer, but that still shouldn’t take away from the overwhelming success of this film.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Warner Bros. Discovery) (Barbie | Main Trailer – YouTube)
In Text Image 1: (Warner Bros. Discovery) (Barbie | Main Trailer – YouTube)
