NEW YORK: Box-office ticket sales of the movie ‘Barbie’ topped $1 billion in the United States and worldwide since its debut more than two weeks ago, Warner Bros. Pictures, a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery, announced on Sunday.
In a statement, Warner Bros. said the movie took in $459 million from domestic theaters and another $572.1 million overseas over the weekend, for a total of $1.0315 billion. The figure was confirmed by media analytics firm Comscore.
“As distribution chiefs, we’re not often rendered speechless by a film’s performance, but Barbillion has blown even our most optimistic predictions out of the water,” said Jeff Goldstein, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. Pictures, and Andrew Cripps, president of international distribution.
Directed by Oscar-nominated writer and director Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, the movie sends Mattel Inc’s iconic doll on an adventure into the real world.
Not only has ‘Barbie’ thus become the first movie directed solely by a woman to pass the $1 billion mark, but it did so faster than any film – including those directed by men – in Warner Bros.’ 100-year history, executives there said.
Universal’s ‘Oppenheimer,’ the dark historical drama that has placed second to ‘Barbie’ in their debut weeks, was bumped by Warner Bros. newcomer ‘Meg 2: The Trench,’ an action film featuring gargantuan prehistoric sharks.
‘Meg 2’ pulled in $30 million for the weekend, while Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ earned $28.7 million to push its global total to $552 million.
