The world, or at least North America, is a “Barbie” world.
Discovery, a film by Greta Gerwig, Mattel, and Warner Bros., surpassed $575.4 million worldwide on Wednesday, making it the most successful film of the year in North America.
With its $574 million total, Universal’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which had previously held the record, was overtaken by the movie based on the legendary doll.
“Barbie” is also getting closer to winning the prize for this year’s highest-grossing international release. It has made $1.3 billion globally, which is getting close to the $1.35 billion “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has made since its premiere in April. The two films are the only ones to surpass $1 billion this year.
The popularity of “Barbie” and Super Mario comes at a time when viewers have largely shunned superhero films and sequels in favour of original content.
“Barbie’s” record-breaking box office run began in July, when it had the highest opening-weekend debut of the year with $162 million in takings. It achieved the highest opening for a female filmmaker and now holds the record for the highest grossing female-directed film.
It’s notable that “Barbie” held onto the top spot at the box office for four straight weekends. Through the rest of the summer and into the fall, it is expected to boost ticket sales.
Since its release, the movie has seen weekend decreases in its box office revenue of under 43%, with the most recent two weekends only seeing an average decline of 36% from the previous weeks. Big films typically lose more than 60% of their audience each weekend after their first release.
There aren’t many big pictures coming out in the next several weeks, so ‘Barbie’ should be able to keep selling tickets despite the lack of competition.
