Barbie Has Second-Best Opening Day Ever In United Kingdom

After months of anticipation and plenty of pink-drenched marketing, the Barbie movie hit theaters this weekend and the film is already off to a massive start, not just domestically, but abroad as well. The Greta Gerwig directed film is currently eyeing a $300 million worldwide opening weekend and, in the UK specifically, the film has had the second-best opening day ever with, behind only Avengers: Endgame.

The film is also performing very well domestically. Barbie‘s Thursday night preview total of $22.3 million beat out similar one-night totals of several other major, high-profile films, such as The Batman, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Top Gun: Maverick, and even Avatar: The Way of Water.

Barbie Star Margot Robbie Pitched the Film Has Having Billion Dollar Potential

While some may be surprised that Barbie is crushing it at the box office, the film’s star, Margot Robbie, probably isn’t one of them. Robbie told Collider that she felt like Barbie would make a billion dollars during her pitch meeting for the film.

“I think my bitch 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,” Robbie said. “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 had a movie to make, okay?””

Could there be a Barbie Sequel?

With Barbie already being a huge hit, fans are likely to be clamoring for a sequel and while Robbie wasn’t necessarily ready to jump on the sequel train, she admitted previously that there are a “million different directions” a story could go from here.

“It could go a million different directions from this point,” Robbie explained. “But I think you fall into a bit of a trap if you try and set up a first movie whilst also planning for sequels.”

Of course, Mattel is very invested in movies at this point. According to a new report from The New Yorker, there are a total of 45 Mattel-related movies in the process of getting made, including (but not limited to) Barney, Hot Wheels, Polly Pocket, and He-Man. Other projects that have been announced to be in development over the years include American Girl, Big Jim, Chatty Cathy and Betsy Wetsy, Magic 8 Ball, Matchbox, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, Thomas & Friends, Uno, View-Master, and Wishbone. A Barbie sequel may not be out of the question.

In Barbie, to live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken. From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig comes Barbie, which hits theaters on July 21st. Barbie stars Oscar-nominees Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, alongside America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell. The film also stars Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Dua Lipa and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren. Gerwig directed Barbie from a screenplay by Gerwig & Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach, based on Barbie by Mattel. 

Barbie is in theaters now.

h/t: The Hollywood Handle