Greta Gerwig’s Barbie will end Sunday with well over $700 million in worldwide ticket sales, having had the highest-grossing week in Warner Bros. history with $578.5 million.
The film is now guaranteed to enter the billion-dollar club globally, as well as becoming the highest-grossing film ever directed by a single woman, not adjusted for inflation.
Additionally, Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer helped the domestic box office have its fifth-biggest week ever, with total revenue coming in at roughly $500 million. Comscore will not have a final figure until later in the day on Friday.
“Like a perfect game in bowling or a no-hitter in baseball, a $500 million domestic week at the box office is elusive commodity happening only four times prior in box office history and only once outside of mid- to late-December. And it has never happened in July until now,” says Comscore chief box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “It is incredible achievement owed in large part to the Barbenheimer craze that boosted the fortunes of the entire theatrical marketplace.”
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According to Comscore, the top four grossing weeks included Avengers: Endgame, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Avatar. (Force Awakens is ranked second and third on the list.)
Barbie earned another $21.2 million in North America on Thursday, bringing the domestic total to $258.2 million, Warners’ best week ever at the domestic box office. The previous record holder was Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight ($238.6 million). On Friday, the film will pass the $300 million mark. Gerwig’s film has earned an estimated $320.3 million overseas as of Thursday, an incredible sum.
The question now is where Barbie will land globally by Sunday; some believe it will cross $750 million, making it the third-biggest title of 2023 after only its second weekend. The Super Mario Bros. Movie ($1.34 billion), Marvel/Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 ($844.8 million), and Universal’s Fast X ($704.9 million, Universal) are currently the year’s top global earners.
Barbie is a historic triumph for Warner Bros. and Mattel, as well as Gerwig and the cast.
In other Barbenheimer news, Oppenheimer grossed $10 million on Friday, bringing the domestic total to $127.9 million. It finished Thursday with a tidy $292.6 million total.
In other domestic box office news, Disney’s new entry Haunted Mansion opened with $3.1 million in Thursday previews (including select advance Dolby Cinema Screenings Wednesday evening). Among other Disney live-action films, the preview gross for Haunted Mansion was higher than that of Jungle Cruise ($2.7 million) and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil ($2.3 million). The new film, directed by Justin Simien, hopes to benefit from being the market’s only PG-13 offering. It is expected to have a modest opening in the $30 million range.