Barbie Wins Big at the People’s Choice Awards

Barbie scored a number of big wins at the People’s Choice Awards this year, taking home trophies for Movie of the Year and Comedy of the Year as well as acting trophies for its three main characters and a nod for Song of the Year (not even the one nominated for an Oscar). The film is a rarity — a major popcorn blockbuster that has been seen as a serious awards-season contender — although at most awards shows so far, its success has been dwarfed by Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which fits much more comfortably into the mold of a traditional awards-season favorite.

The People’s Choice Awards — which is voted on by regular people rather than groups of professionals like the TV and film Academies or even critics’ associations — tends to favor mass entertainment over traditional awards bait movies, so it’s no surprise to see the year’s biggest blockbuster winning some awards. Still, it’s a consolation prize for a movie that generated a ton of awards buzz, but hasn’t won too many of the big awards.

In all, Barbie won Movie of the Year, Comedy Movie of the Year, Male Movie Star of the Year (for Ryan Gosling), Female Movie Star of the Year (for Margot Robbie), Movie Performance of the Year (for America Ferrera), and Collaboration Song of the Year (for “Barbie World” by Nicki Minag and Ice Spice with Aqua).

Success at the PCA speaks (again) to the broad popularity of the movie, which was seen as a niche film during production and which most critics wrote off before it was ever released. Nobody knew exactly what to expect, but outside of Margot Robbie reportedly calling her shot during meetings with the studio, very few people projected that the movie would become a billion-dollar hit and the highest-grossing movie in Warner Bros.’ history.

Here’s the official synopsis for the film:

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.

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.