Three weeks after its theatrical release on July 19, the film Barbiedirected by the American Greta Gerwig, has already collected more than 1 billion dollars (more than 910 million euros) at the global box office, according to data from the specialized site IMDB Pro, accessed August 10. It is the first time that a film directed by a woman, without a male co-director, exceeds this symbolic amount reached by fifty works since 1993. A feat in a film industry still largely dominated by men.
Greta Gerwig’s feat is all the more notable since, since the crisis following the Covid-19 pandemic, Barbie is only the sixth film to top $1 billion, and the second of 2023. Super Mario Bros the Moviereleased in April, has grossed $1.36 billion to date.
Only three other films co-directed by women have exceeded $1 billion in revenue. Director Jennifer Lee is well ahead: her first two Snow Queenco-directed with Chris Buck, arrive respectively at the 20e and 13e ranks of the greatest successes in the history of cinema. On the other hand, with BarbieGreta Gerwig seems on track to overtake Captain Marvel (2019), co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, which grossed $1.131 billion.
This classification of films according to their receipts tends to favor the most recent works, due to the rise in prices in general, and those of cinema tickets in particular. If we correct for the effects of inflation, revenue from Barbie are hot on the heels of director Patty Jenkins: her film wonder womanreleased in 2017, grossed $822.9 million at the time, which equates to just over $1 billion today.