Come on Barbie, let’s go party! TheBarbiemovie has now done what a few months ago seemed like an impossible feat of blowing The Super Mario Bros. Movie off the top spot of the year’s highest grossing movies in the US. If the summer 2023 box office were a video game, imagine for a moment Barbie (Margot Robbie) pulling onto the track of Mario Kart in her bright-pink convertible. Well, she just fired a couple of Koopa shells, knocked Mario (Chris Pratt) and Luigi (Charlie Day) off of the course and passed them to win the race. Yes, back in the real world, it’s happening. Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster has surpassedThe Super Mario Bros.Movieas the highest-grossing film domestically in 2023, and could still do the same on a worldwide scale.
Barbiehas made more than $575.4 million in the United States, which puts it just ahead ofThe Super Mario Bros. Movie’s$574 million. UnlikeBarbie, the animated adventure of Nintendo’s popular video game franchise was released in April, and the film wasn’t even a summertime event. Still, it became a global success all the same. NowBarbieis just $50 million away from becoming 2023’s highest grossing movie worldwide.
Warner Bros. just came off of a weekend where their filmsBlue BeetleandBarbiewere No. 1 and No. 2 at the box office respectively in the U.S. AndBarbie’s$574 million-haul also gives the studio something else to celebrate. For the first time since 2011, a Warner Bros. film will be the top-grossing movie of the year — assuming another one of their projects doesn’t do better business in 2023. The last Warner’s picture to be top dog wasHarry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2some 12 years ago.
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Barbie Dethrones The Super Mario Bros. Movie
While passing The Super Mario Bros. Movie is one feat in itself, there’s also something to be said abouthow fastBarbiereachedthe milestone in the United States compared to its competition. Where it took the computer-animated Nintendo flick 138 days to reach $574.2 million, it only tookBarbie34 days! That’s even faster than the 40 days that it tookTop Gun: Maverickto make the same amount of money in 2022.
Greta Gerwig is now the only woman to direct a billion-dollar movie without the assistance of a male co-director. And Gerwig has just two female-led films left in her way that have made more money at the worldwide box office than herBarbiemovie.Barbiewill passFrozen’s$1,284,540,518.00 this week. And then onlyFrozen II’s$1,453,683,476.00 will stand in Gerwig’s way to the outright, sole claim to the billion-dollar honor by a female director. BothFrozenandFrozen IIwere directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck.
Barbieis about to enter its sixth weekend at the box office, and the film will be available on digital starting September 5.
