Summary
- Barbie’s success at the box office has exceeded expectations, earning $155 million in the US and $377 million globally, making it the highest-ever opening weekend for a solo female director.
- Margot Robbie’s pitch for Barbie to studios drew upon successful pairings of big ideas with visionary directors, using Jurassic Park and Steven Spielberg as examples.
- While hitting the $1 billion mark is still far away, Barbie’s strong performance and positive reception indicate that it has a fighting chance, especially with its box office rivalry with Oppenheimer and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.
Barbie star Margot Robbie explains how comparing her Mattel movie adaptation to Jurassic Park helped it get the greenlight during the pitching process. Helmed by Little Women director Greta Gerwig, and starring Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Simu Liu, America Ferrera, and Will Ferrell, Barbie first went into development back in 2009. Robbie became attached to the project when she was cast in 2019, and was responsible for bringing Gerwig on board.
In an interview with Collider, Robbie discusses how, in her role as producer, she had to pitch Barbie to studios. She appealed to the financial possibilities a movie like Barbie could provide for studios, and how it is often the case that projects just require the right kind of matchup to be a success. That was where Jurassic Park came into play. Read Robbie’s full comments below:
I think my pitch in the green-light meeting was the studios have prospered so much when they’re brave enough to pair a big idea with a visionary director. And then I gave a series of examples like, “dinosaurs and [Steven] Spielberg,” that and that, that and that – pretty much naming anything that’s been incredible and made a ton of money for the studios over the years. And I was like, “And now you’ve got Barbie and Greta Gerwig.” And I think I told them that it’d make a billion dollars, which maybe I was overselling, but we had a movie to make, okay?!
Can Barbie Hit The $1 Billion Mark?
Early anticipation for Barbie was huge, and it has already surpassed expectations with a record-breaking opening weekend. The film was projected to take in $110 million domestically over opening weekend; at the time of writing, Barbie has earned $155 million in the United States, and a global total of $377 million. This makes it the highest-ever opening weekend for a solo female director, and edges it closer to the possibility of hitting that magic $1 billion mark.
At the time, it’s highly likely that Robbie was joking with her Jurassic Park comparison, or simply blowing hot air to see if the studios would be interested. Ironically, though, her prediction could be closer to becoming a reality than first expected. Barbie still has a long way to go before hitting $1 billion, but the signs are certainly positive, and its early performance has certainly given it a fighting chance. Barbie‘s box office rivalry with Oppenheimer, and, to a lesser extent, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, has seemingly worked in its favor, stoking interest and propelling ticket sales.
The Barbie vs Oppenheimer battle appears to have captured audience’s imaginations, and reignited the box office in the process. While it is impossible to predict how well Barbie will do long-term, signs look good, and this is a positive thing for Hollywood, especially against the backdrop of two strikes. If Barbie can hit the $1 billion mark, this could be a game-changer for studios. Its future prospects will become clearer next weekend when it is revealed how much it drops from its opening.
Source: Collider