The Success of BARBIE And What Hollywood Should Learn From It

It’s been a long time since the world has seen a box office phenomenon quite like Barbie (2023). With a current worldwide gross of $1, 381, 009, 254 and a domestic gross of $609,509,254, Greta Gerwig’s subversive take on the iconic doll continues to dominate the global box office. Consequently, manufacturers/film distributors Mattel and Hasbro already have several new toy-based projects lined up, such as Polly Pocket, Hot Wheels, and American Girl. It was certainly predictable that both companies would be prepared to capitalize on this movie’s gargantuan success. However, have they taken the wrong lesson from the picture’s monster success?

It’s a worthy question, considering The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023) is currently in second place worldwide at $1,359,754,799. However, many have argued that Mattel and Hasbro misunderstood things, with actor Randall Park on deadline stating “Barbie is this massive blockbuster, and the idea is: Make more movies about toys! No- Make more movies by and about women! It’s Greta Gerwig!”  This sentiment is bolstered by the fact that A) according to The Hollywood Reporter, “Over the July 21-23 frame, 69 percent of ticket buyers were female”  a figure which only rose in the second weekend, boosting to “71 percent… which is unusual per NPR.

Gerwig‘s 2019 adaptation of Little Women grossed $218,843,645 on a $40 million budget. Regardless of the IP attached, the through line is clear: audiences will come out in droves to support empowering, entertaining movies by and about women, and so studios should fund more of such pictures. Not to mention that both of these films’ success unequivocally indicate that Gerwig is now one of the small group of directors who can get butts in the seats simply with their name attached.

In addition to most of the ticket buyers for Barbie opening weekend having been women, according to IMDb.com, the picture made $162,022,044 million domestically opening weekend as well, the biggest domestic debut for a female director. On top of that, the movie has been out for well over a month now, and unlike most movies, whose performance at the box office tends to drop after the first week or two, Barbie’s profits only continue to climb upward. Theater chains, even, still have several scheduled showings per day, and most films would have been on their way out of cinemas by now. According to Cinema Prime TV, it is not only the highest-grossing picture of the year, but the highest-grossing movie directed by a woman ever, the biggest movie of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling’s careers, Warner Bros.’ most successful film, and the fifteenth profitable movie ever made.

Even putting aside the indisputable statistics, there are also my own experiences seeing the film twice in theaters. On opening day, most of the people in line with and around me were women and girls. The line next to mine was told the current showing of the movie was almost sold out. When I returned to celebrate National Cinema Day, the crowds for Barbie were once again largely female. If that doesn’t speak volumes about what’s really keeping people coming back,  I don’t know what does.

So what SHOULD the big movie corporations be taking away going forth with their new projects? They should start by realizing that IP alone isn’t enough to sustain a strong box office gross. Projects need to have a strong story, script, great casting, and direction; essentially, they actually have to be good to draw more and more people in and to have audiences come back to see them again. Let’s keep in mind Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023), Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning: Part One (2023), and The Flash (2023) all underperformed despite being based on beloved properties, making $382,254,133, $560,299,279, and $268,533,313 at the global box office respectively. Oh, and we must not forget that Jurassic Park III (2001), also based on an iconic IP, quickly tanked after its opening weekend, making only $368,780,809 on a $93,000,000 budget. Next, executives’ focus needs to shift from purely capitalizing on nostalgic products to finding great stories that audiences, women included, will respond to, Polly Pocket being a perfect opportunity to apply this lesson. Audiences want more original, smart, funny, empowering films for and about women. To paraphrase Field of Dreams, if you build it with intelligence, skilled craftsmanship, heart, and humor, they will come.

Watch Barbie