Barbie Becomes Highest-Grossing Film of 2023

09/02/2023 11:19 am EDT

Barbie is officially the highest-grossing film of 2023 at the box office. The Greta Gerwig-directed film, starring Margot Robbie as the iconic title doll, has earned $1.36 billion at the worldwide box office, surpassing the $1.35 billion mark held by Universal and Illumination's animated hit, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, to become the top-grossing film of the year. In North America alone, Barbie has earned $600 million at the box office, surpassing The Super Mario Bros. Movie's $574 million in August. The film started strong by grossing $162 million in its opening weekend at the box office for the best debut of the year. It spent four weeks in the number-one spot on the box office charts.

Barbie previously passed Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight ($536 million) to become Warner Bros. Pictures' highest-grossing domestic film release. Continuing its streak of box office domination, Barbie has also become Warner Bros. Pictures' biggest global film release ever, passing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 ($1.34 billion). On the all-time box office charts, Barbie is currently the 14th-biggest domestic film release and the 15th-biggest global film release in box office history. Barbie is sure to run up its score when it goes into IMAX theaters with new footage in September.

What do critics think of Barbie?

Barbie has been well-loved by fans and critics alike. It has a "certified fresh" score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, with a critics consensus that reads, "Barbie is a visually dazzling comedy whose meta humor is smartly complemented by subversive storytelling."

ComicBook.com's Nicole Drum awarded Barbie a review score of 4.5 out of 5 stars. In her review, Drum writes, "Barbie is quite possibly Gerwig's best film to date. It is insightful, hilarious, and packed with thoughtful commentary as well as an incredible amount of Easter eggs and one-liners that will reward audiences of every age and opinion on Barbie, not just on the first watch, but on multiple rewatches. Barbie pulls off the near-impossible task of taking what could have been merely a capitalist IP-driven cash grab and turned it into a celebration of and commentary on culture that gives the audience permission and encouragement to challenge not only everything they think Barbie represents, but what the world asks of us mere humans as well so that we never go back into the box again."

Barbie cast

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 hit 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 still playing in theaters and heads for IMAX with a new post-credits scene on September 22nd. Barbie will seemingly be available digitally beginning on September 12th, though whether that date is official remains a bit murky.

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