Barbie‘s got an amazing CinemaScore and that helps it explain this box office dominance. On social media, the CinemaScore account rated Greta Gerwig’s pink bonanza an A. It’s no shock to people who have already seen the movie. But, the reactions to both Barbie and Oppenheimer highlight the necessity of word of mouth in the success of any big project now. That isn’t to say that the marketing team on Margot Robbie’s movie shouldn’t be given their props. But, it’s clear that word of mouth on social media and elsewhere is absolutely powering the frenzy around these two films.ย
On Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and elsewhere, the Barbieheimer craze began organically after people realized the stylistically different films were premiering the same day. After that happened, you add in little things like Tom Cruise’s theater challenge, and the appeal of dressing up as a Barbie and changing into all-black at the theater, it was impossible for this to not feel like an event. It also doesn’t hurt that both movies are actually good! Check out that A ranking for yourself down below.
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Barbie Is Crushing The Box Office
Box office totals for Barbie have been eye-popping already. Theater analysts knew something tremendous was bubbling when the movie brought in $20 million during Thursday night previews. That’s an astonishing number after 2020. Barbie managed the biggest opening night of the summer and it would be hard to see many more films managing to hit that mark for the rest of the year. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 managed $17.5 million. (It stands to mention that James Gunn’s final MCU project also had massive word of mouth pushes as well.)
Margot Robbie actually told Collider that she mentioned the possibility of Barbie being a $1 billion movieย during her pitch meeting. “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,” Robbie began. “And then I gave a series of examples like, “dinosaurs and [Steven] Spielberg,” that and that, that and that โ 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?!”
Does This All But Ensure A Barbie Sequel?
With all this success and massive box office numbers, it feels like another Barbie movie is all-but assured. TIME Magazineย caught up with Margot Robbie before the movie released and she’s not sure at the moment. But, anything is really possible. “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.”
If Mattel has anything to say about it, the prospect seems kind of likely right now. “We’re looking to create movies that become cultural events,” Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz said in the same interview. “If you can excite filmmakers like Greta and Noah to embrace the opportunity and have creative freedom, you can have a real impact.”
Here’s A Guide To Barbie World This Weekend!
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. Barbieย 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.
Are you shocked by the response to Barbie? Tell us down in the comments!