Barbie generated more buzz than any film in recent memory, and it managed to live up to its reputation as the film of the summer. It earned a staggering $337 million on its opening, scoring the highest-grossing weekend for a female-directed film.
After being projected to gross $90–125 million domestically during its opening weekend, Barbie knocked it out of the park with a $155 million opening. It also grossed $182 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $337 million at the global box office.
This makes Barbie the highest-grossing opener of 2023 so far, breaking the record set by The Super Mario Bros Movie. This also marks the highest-grossing weekend for a female-directed film, in addition to being the largest opening for a non-sequel, non-remake, and non-superhero movie.
Barbie wasn’t the only film blowing up at the global box office this weekend. Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer hit the theatres on the same day, and it was right behind Barbie with a global tally of $174 million.
Both films were involved in the global Barbenheimer phenomenon, inspired by their shared release date and dramatic differences in tone and subject matter. What started as a friendly competition, turned into a fascinating symbiosis, inspiring many moviegoers to see them both as a double feature, thus improving their box office numbers.