Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” film is now the highest-grossing movie that the legendary Warner Bros. studio has ever released in North America.
The milestone came when the film passed Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight,” the previous Warner’s record holder at $536 million. “Barbie” had grossed $537.4 million in the U.S. and Canada as of the most recent weekend numbers, just edging past the Batman film.
The new movie also is one of the highest-grossing films of all time on a worldwide scale, putting it in the same conversation as “Titanic” and “The Avengers,” having made over $1.2 billion at the worldwide box office. That figure is the highest any movie directed by a woman has ever achieved.
The film, which stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, is the second highest-grossing Warner Bros. film at the worldwide box office, just behind the final Harry Potter film.
However, “Barbie” was released just one month ago and is still topping the box office, and thus is expected to outpace the final $1.3 billion netted by “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.”
“Barbie” was helped by the man whose film she surpassed on the Warner Bros. ledger: Mr. Nolan.
His current film “Oppenheimer” was announced for release months ago as the same day as “Barbie,” prompting all kinds of advance speculation, semi-rivalry, and ever “Barbenheimer” memes and jokes on social media.
But that buzz wound up helping both films, as audiences flocked back to the movie theaters to see both. “Oppenheimer,” which just had its IMAX run extended until the end of August, also has grossed over $650 million worldwide and is on track to become Mr. Nolan’s biggest non-Batman hit.
• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.