Greta Gerwig’s Barbie makes $1 BILLION – making history as the first female-directed film to do so after its release just three weeks ago

Barbie and director Greta Gerwig made history this weekend, surpassing $1 billion in worldwide box office earnings, becoming the first film directed solely by a woman to do so.

The film, based on Mattel’s beloved character and co-written by Gerwig with husband Noah Baumbach, has added another $127 million internationally, bringing its worldwide total to $1.03 billion.

It had already passed second place on the list after a record first few weeks in theaters, 2017’s Wonder Woman directed by Patty Jenkins, which grossed $821.8 million worldwide.

A total of 53 films in the medium’s history have reached the billion-dollar category, with studio representatives coining the phrase “Barbillion” for the latest addition to the list.

While the Frozen and Captain Marvel films were co-directed by a woman with a man, Barbie becomes the highest-grossing film directed solely by a woman.

The Margot Robbie-directed and produced film has sat comfortably in the top spot for three weeks and is barely finished.

It crossed $400 million domestic and $500 million international faster than any other film from the studio, including the Harry Potter films.

“As distribution heads, we’re not often speechless at a film’s performance, but Barbillon has blown even our most optimistic predictions,” said Jeff Goldstein and Andrew Cripps, who oversee domestic distribution and international studio, in a joint statement.

“Barbie” is now the biggest to be directed by a single woman, edging out “Wonder Woman” at the worldwide total of $821.8 million. Three films co-directed by women are still ahead of ‘Barbie,’ including ‘Frozen’ ($1.3 billion) and ‘Frozen 2’ ($1.45 billion) both co-directed by Jennifer Lee and “Captain Marvel” ($1.1 billion), co-directed by Anna Boden.

But “Barbie” surpassed “Captain Marvel” domestically with $459.4 million (from $426.8 million), claiming the North American record for live-action films directed by women.

The Wachowskis — two transgender women — Matrix Reloaded grossed over $700 million at the box office, but was released before Lana and Lilly Wachowski made the transition.

Warner Bros. Co-Chairmen and CEOs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy also praised Gerwig in a statement and said the milestone “is a testament to his genius and his commitment to delivering a film that fans of Barbies of all ages want to see on the big screen.’

New competition took place this weekend in the form of the animated ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’ and Jason Statham’s shark sequel, ‘Meg 2: The Trench’, both of which were neck and neck. neck and neck with Christopher. Nolan’s “Oppenheimer”, also in his third weekend, for second place.

Barbie and director Greta Gerwig (pictured) made history over the weekend, surpassing $1 billion in worldwide box office earnings, becoming the first film directed solely by a woman to do so.

Barbie and Ken: Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling play iconic dolls

‘Meg 2’ managed to sneak past and land in second place. It overcame its dire reviews to score an opening weekend of $30 million from 3,503 locations.

The Warner Bros. outing, directed by Ben Wheatley, currently has a score of 29% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a B-CinemaScore from audiences. The thriller was released in 3D, which accounted for 22% of its first-weekend activity.

Third place went to “Oppenheimer,” which added $28.7 million from 3,612 locations in North America, bringing its national total to $228.6 million.

In just three weeks, J. Robert Oppenheimer’s biopic starring Cillian Murphy became the highest-grossing R-rated film of the year (ahead of “John Wick Chapter 4″) and the sixth-highest-grossing of the year, topping ” Ant- The Man and the Wasp: Quantumania.’

“Oppenheimer” also celebrated a milestone, crossing $500 million worldwide in three weeks.

Its worldwide tally currently stands at $552.9 million, putting it ahead of “Dunkirk,” which grossed $527 million in 2017, and became Nolan’s fifth-biggest film.

The film is also among the four highest-grossing biographies of all time (the company includes “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “The Passion of the Christ” and “American Sniper”) and the biggest World War II film of all time. .

Barbie: The Album, which accompanies the Greta Gerwig-directed comedy about the Mattel doll of the same name, became the first movie soundtrack to land three of the top five songs at the same time

Prior to the film’s release, industry watchers were eager to see how Barbie would fare against Oppenheimer, who lost that same weekend.

A playful “Barbenheimer” rivalry erupted, and a trend took off among particularly dedicated moviegoers to see the two films back-to-back on the same day.

Despite Oppenheimer’s box office triumph, Barbie managed to edge him out on their mutual opening weekend.

A new report from CNBC predicts that Barbie will cross the $1 billion mark by next Monday at the latest, a major milestone for female filmmakers.

BoxOffice.com Chief Analyst Shawn Robbins remarked, “Joining the billion-dollar box office club is a watershed moment for Barbie and Greta Gerwig, as the latter will become the first solo female director to achieve this feat.”

Paramount´s “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” was just behind in fourth place with an estimated $28 million from 3,858 theaters in North America.

Margot Robbie as Barbie. Warner Brothers spent more on advertising – £117million – than making the film itself

Prior to the film’s release, industry watchers were eager to see how Barbie would fare against Oppenheimer, who lost that same weekend.

Since opening Wednesday, the film, which boasts stellar reviews (96% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audience scores, has grossed $43.1 million.

“It’s one of those movies that is cross-generational joy,” said Chris Aronson, president of national distribution for Paramount.

“I think the enduring popularity of ‘Turtles’ is showing its true colors. And there hasn’t been an animated movie for eight weeks and there won’t be another for eight weeks, which is great for us.

‘Turtles’ cost $70 million to produce and features a star-studded voice cast that includes Jackie Chan, Ice Cube, Paul Rudd, Ayo Edebiri and Seth Rogen, who produced and co-wrote the film, which looks at the adolescent aspect of the turtles.

“Barbie,” “Oppenheimer,” and even surprise anti-trafficking hit “Sound of Freedom” (now at $163.5 million and ahead of “Mission: Impossible 7”) helped fuel a box office boom, reporting several million more than expected and helping to offset the pain caused by certain summer disappointments.

“After ‘The Flash’, ‘Indiana Jones’ and, to some extent, ‘Mission: Impossible’, people were saying that the summer had been a disappointment. But it’s not over yet,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “We are going to have a summer that is going to end on a high note.”

But the moment of triumph for the industry will likely be short-lived if studios fail to reach a deal with actors and writers on strike soon.

The fall release schedule has already tightened, with some studios pushing movies to 2024 instead of trying to promote them without movie stars.

It’s not paradise. This Barbie world is a dystopia – a chilling vision of a future for the human race. And the question is whether Barbie, or any of us, can escape

Record broken: Barbie could join an elite club of billion-dollar films with industry insiders predicting the acclaimed live-action flick could hit the milestone after a 360 opening weekend million dollars

Sony had planned to release its PlayStation-inspired “Gran Turismo” true story in theaters nationwide next Friday, but will now roll it out slowly for two weeks before rolling out on August 25. If the movie stars can’t promote the film, maybe the audience can.

“We have to be realistic,” Dergarabedian said. “We’re on that emotional peak of movies doing so well, but we have to temper our excitement and optimism with the fact that the strike is creating a lot of uncertainty.”

“The longer it goes on, the deeper the problems become. But the public has spoken and they love going to the cinema.