Greta Gerwig, Director Of Barbie, Achieves The Highest Domestic Box Office Earnings Ever For A Female Director
The Barbie phenomenon continues to make waves at the box office. According to THR, Greta Gerwig has now become the highest-grossing female filmmaker in U.S. box office history. Her film, in which she collaborated with Margot Robbie, surpassed the previous record-holder, Frozen II, this past Friday.
The Gerwig-Robbie collaboration is performing exceptionally well both domestically and internationally. While it still has a distance to go before surpassing Frozen II’s global earnings (directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck), it has already exceeded the performance of its live-action competitor, 2019’s Captain Marvel (co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck).
Barbie is nearing the top spot for domestic box office performance this year, with $502 million. It’s now only $70 million behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie. To surpass Avatar 2, it needs another $100 million, even though it has already outperformed Avatar 2’s 2023 earnings. In comparison, Frozen II made $477 million domestically in 2019 before the pandemic.
On the international front, Barbie faces a tougher challenge. It’s performing well in most markets, outperforming its unlikely companion film Oppenheimer in many countries. However, matching the global appeal of Mario might be difficult. Slow rollouts and bans in certain Middle Eastern countries are posing challenges. Barbie needs to pick up the pace to surpass Frozen II internationally. Disney’s movie achieved impressive numbers, particularly in Japan and China. Barbie is yet to premiere in Japan, where its pairing with Oppenheimer in memes has faced criticism. Despite a slow start in China, Barbie is achieving some moderate success. To follow the film’s progress worldwide, Variety has a detailed article comparing its performance with Oppenheimer’s in various markets around the globe.
