Barbie beats Mario: ‘Barbie’ tops ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ as biggest film in North America
This “Barbie” is officially the highest-grossing movie of the year in North America.
Greta Gerwig’s fantasy-comedy, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, has generated $575.4 million at the domestic box office, overtaking the previous champion, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which has collected $574 million domestically.
“Barbie” has grossed $1.3 billion globally and will soon surpass “Mario” (with $1.35 billion globally) as the biggest worldwide release of 2023 as well. Only two Hollywood blockbusters this year have crossed the $1 billion mark and, notably, neither were superhero adventures or sequels in popular franchises.
“Barbie” started its record-breaking theatrical run in July with the best debut of the year ($162 million) and remained the No. 1 movie for four consecutive weekends.
It also landed the biggest opening weekend for a film directed by a woman and became the highest-grossing movie directed solely by a woman. At this point, “Barbie” is the 14th-biggest domestic release and 20th-biggest global release of all time.
“Barbie” also recently surpassed Christopher Nolan’s superhero epic “The Dark Knight” ($536 million) as the highest-grossing domestic release in Warner Bros. history. It could eventually eclipse 2011’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” ($1.34 billion) as the studio’s highest-grossing worldwide release in 100 years.
Gerwig, the Oscar-nominated director of “Lady Bird” and “Little Women,” co-wrote the screenplay with her partner Noah Baumbach.