Barbie Movie Beats Box Office Record Held By Harry Potter

Barbie is currently the biggest movie out in theaters. Not only has the film been getting rave reviews from both critics and audiences, but it also won its third weekend in a row at the box office and officially reached $1 billion worldwide. Barbie has hit some impressive milestones, including being the first film directed solely by a woman to reach $1 billion (congrats, Greta Gerwig!). The film has also been a huge hit for Warner Bros. and just became the fasted movie in their repertoire to reach $1 billion. The title previously belonged to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. 

Barbie managed to earn $1 billion at the box office in just 17 days, beating Warner Bros.’s record. Back in 2011, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 reached $1 billion at the box office after 19 days. While some are surprised that Barbie has hit $1 billion at the box office after only two weeks in theaters, Margot Robbie actually pitched the film as a $1 billion dollar idea.

“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,” Barbie star Margot Robbie previously told Collider. “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 we had a movie to make, okay?!”

What Is Barbie About?

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.