Taglines: She’s everything. He’s just Ken.
Stereotypical Barbie (“Barbie”) and her fellow dolls reside in Barbieland, a matriarchal society with different variations of Barbies, Kens, and a group of discontinued models, who are treated like outcasts due to their unconventional traits. While the Kens spend their days playing at the beach, considering it as their profession, the Barbies hold prestigious jobs, such as doctors, lawyers, and politicians. Beach Ken (“Ken”) is only happy when he is with Barbie and seeks a closer relationship, but Barbie rebuffs him in favor of independence and female friendships.
At a dance party, Barbie is suddenly stricken with worries about mortality. Overnight, she develops bad breath, cellulite, and flat feet, disrupting her usual routines the next day. Weird Barbie, a once beautiful Barbie turned outcast due to her disfigurement, tells her she must find the child playing with her in the real world to cure her afflictions. Ken stows away in her convertible hoping to join her on the journey, to which Barbie reluctantly agrees.
Arriving at Venice Beach, the two are arrested after Barbie punches a man for groping her, but are quickly released. Alarmed by their presence, Mattel CEO orders their recapture. Barbie tracks down her owner, a tween girl named Sasha, who criticizes her for encouraging unrealistic beauty standards. Distraught, Barbie discovers that Gloria, a Mattel employee and Sasha’s mother, inadvertently catalyzed her existential crisis after Gloria began playing with Sasha’s old Barbie toys in a similar state. Mattel attempts to put Barbie in a toy box for remanufacturing, but she escapes with Gloria and Sasha’s help and the three travel to Barbieland with Mattel executives in pursuit.
Meanwhile, Ken learns about the patriarchal system and feels respected for the first time. Returning to Barbieland, he persuades the other Kens to take over, and the Barbies are indoctrinated into submissive roles, such as agreeable girlfriends, housewives, and maids. Barbie arrives and unsuccessfully tries to convince Ken and the Barbies to return to the way things were. She becomes depressed, but Gloria gives an inspirational speech about society’s conflicting expectations of women, restoring Barbie’s self-confidence.
Barbie is a 2023 American fantasy comedy film directed by Greta Gerwig from a screenplay she wrote with her partner Noah Baumbach. Based on the Barbie fashion dolls by Mattel, it is the first live-action Barbie film after numerous computer-animated films and specials. The film follows Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling) on a journey of self-discovery following an existential crisis. It features an ensemble supporting cast, including America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Helen Mirren, Issa Rae, Simu Liu, Michael Cera, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell.
A live-action Barbie film was announced in September 2009 by Universal Pictures with Laurence Mark producing. Development began in April 2014, when Sony Pictures acquired the film rights. Following multiple writer and director changes and the casting of Amy Schumer and later Anne Hathaway as Barbie, the rights were transferred to Warner Bros. Pictures in October 2018. Robbie was cast in 2019, after Gal Gadot turned down the role due to scheduling conflicts and Gerwig was announced as director and co-writer with Baumbach in 2020. The rest of the cast were announced in early 2022. Filming took place primarily at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, in England and on the Venice Beach Skatepark in Los Angeles from March to July 2022.
Barbie premiered at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on July 9, 2023, and was theatrically released in the United States on July 21 by Warner Bros. Pictures. Its simultaneous release with Universal’s Oppenheimer led to the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon on social media, which encouraged audiences to see both films as a double feature. The film received widespread acclaim and exceeded box office expectations, grossing over $1.18 billion worldwide, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 2023 as well as the highest-grossing live-action movie solely directed by a woman.
Box Office Results
As of August 15, 2023, Barbie has grossed $526.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $657.6 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $1.187 billion. The film labeled a “record-breaking” box office success during its opening weekend, and set the record for any film that was not a sequel, remake, or superhero property. The film crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide on August 6, 2023, making it the first film by a solo female director to do so.
In the United States and Canada, Barbie was released alongside Oppenheimer, and was originally projected to gross $90–125 million from 4,243 theaters in its opening weekend, with Warner Bros. predicting a $75 million debut. The week of their release, AMC Theatres announced that over 40,000 AMC Stubs members had pre-booked tickets to both films on the same day
It earned $70.5 million on its opening day, which included $22.3 million from Wednesday and Thursday night previews, both of which were the best of 2023. Barbie’s opening weekend gross of $162 million marked the largest opening since Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($181.3 million in November 2022). It was also the biggest opening ever for a film helmed by a female director, besting Captain Marvel (2019), and surpassed Suicide Squad (2016) to have Robbie’s highest opening weekend.
It scored the third-highest July opening weekend at the time, behind The Lion King (2019) and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (2011). This also marked the third-highest opening weekend for a Warner Bros. film, after the latter film and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016). Barbie also scored the biggest opening for a movie based on a toy, surpassing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). The Barbenheimer phenomenon was widely credited with boosting interest in the film, with a total of 79% of tickets sold over the weekend (52% for Barbie) being for the two films, a total of 18.5 million people.
Following its opening weekend, Barbie surpassed The Dark Knight (2008) as the highest Monday gross ever for any Warner Bros. film, collecting a total of $26.1 million. In its second weekend, the film earned $92 million, dropping by 43%, which was the largest sophomore weekend ever for a Warner Bros. film and the seventh-largest ever. The film remained in first place with $53 million in its third weekend and $33.7 million in its fourth weekend.
Barbie (2023)
Directed by: Greta Gerwig
Starring: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Simu Liu, Helen Mirren, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell, Marisa Abela, Nicola Coughlan
Screenplay by: Greta Gerwig, Noah Baumbach
Production Design by: Sarah Greenwood
Cinematography by: Rodrigo Prieto
Film Editing by: Nick Houy
Costume Design by: Jacqueline Durran
Set Decoration by: Andrew Max Cahn, Dean Clegg, David Doran, Jordana Finkel, Clara Gomez del Moral
Art Direction by: Katie Spencer, Ashley Swanson
Music by: Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for suggestive references and brief language.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: July 9, 2023 (Shrine Auditorium), July 21, 2023 (United States)
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