In a powerful start at the box office, Barbie dominated with an outstanding $22.3 million in preview showings, surpassing earlier preshow grosses set by big-name movies like The Batman, Top Gun: Maverick, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Avatar: The Way of Water.
The Warner Bros. Discovery release, featuring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and helmed by director Greta Gerwig, achieved the highest Thursday preview figure since Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which hit $28 million on its way to an impressive $181 million domestic debut. With a budget of $145 million, the Mattel production is now on track to easily exceed $100 million, possibly even reaching $150 million, during its domestic launch.
Riding on positive reviews, top-tier buzz, and an extensive marketing and tie-in campaign reminiscent of the “Bat-Mania” surrounding Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989, Barbie is poised to claim the title of the biggest opening weekend since the record-breaking Wakanda Forever last November.
Considering the Thursday-to-weekend projections, Barbie is estimated to achieve a $144 million domestic launch. Various comparisons suggest an opening weekend between $130 million and $155 million, with Avatar: The Way of Water’s trajectory pointing towards a potential $175 million Fri-Sun gross.
REELated:
The film is expected to become only the second solo female-directed movie to achieve a $100 million-plus debut weekend. Surpassing the $103.5 million mark will place it ahead of Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman, setting a new record for the biggest opening from a solo female filmmaker.
The successes of Captain Marvel and Frozen, which had male/female directing duos, along with Wonder Woman 1984 and Black Widow, had they not faced the challenges of opening during the COVID-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020, indicate that The Marvels, directed by Nia DaCosta, could also be a potential contender for such achievements when it debuts on Nov. 10.
For Warner Bros. Discovery, Barbie represents a much-needed theatrical triumph, with its performance being vital for the studio’s long-term prospects, even surpassing the impact of their DC Studios movies.
Recently the studio has experienced three DCEU flops in a row with Black Adam, Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash. The studio’s marketing prowess, evident in turning unconventional movies like Magic Mike, Gravity, American Sniper, It, A Star Is Born, Crazy Rich Asians, Joker, and Dune into box office smashes, highlights the significance of “Barbie’s” success.
The decision to open Barbie alongside Oppenheimer seems to have worked wonders for both films, generating significant buzz and turning them into cultural events that benefit each other.
Looking ahead, the simultaneous release of Saw X and PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie on September 29 sets the stage for an exciting double feature, aptly dubbed “Saw Patrol.”
