Greta Gerwig Makes New Box Office History for a Female Director

Greta Gerwig is making cinema history. The filmmaker’s masterpiece, Barbie, scored a massive $155 million in its opening weekend, marking the biggest debut ever for a film directed by a woman.

As Barbenheimer’s explosive opening weekend comes to a close, Barbie has reigned supreme. Many moviegoers reserved seats to screen a double feature of Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Nolan’s film opened with an impressive $80.5 million.

Happy #Barbenheimer pic.twitter.com/kqNmNsSsor

— Cinema Tweets (@CinemaTweets1) July 21, 2023

The global phenomenon of Barbenheimer was also the fourth-biggest collective weekend of all time. The biggest box office smashes during opening weekend were led by the debuts of sequels in massive franchises: Avengers: Endgame ($402 million collectively in April 2019), Avengers: Infinity War ($314 million collectively in April 2018), and Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($313 million collectively in December 2015).

‘Barbenheimer’ becomes the fourth biggest box-office weekend in history!

1. ‘AVENGERS: ENDGAME’
2. ‘AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR’
3. ‘STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS’
4. ‘BARBIE’ and ‘OPPENHEIMER’ pic.twitter.com/mjmiJIwL7L

— What's On The Red Carpet (@WOTRedCarpet) July 23, 2023

David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research, expressed how historic this weekend was for film lovers everywhere. He states, “‘Barbie’ has exploded into a zeitgeist film… This is genuine excitement, not the manufactured kind. Moviegoers are making it their own.”

Greta Gerwig scores the largest opening weekend for a female director ever with $155 million for #Barbie

It’s the highest domestic opening weekend of 2023 #Barbenheimer #FilmTwitter pic.twitter.com/KSNfjFwJ0S

— Matt Neglia (@NextBestPicture) July 23, 2023

Barbie cost a whopping $145 million to make. Gerwig co-wrote the script alongside Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story). She is the Oscar-nominated director behind the films Lady Bird (2017) and Little Women (2019).

Seeing this video of Greta Gerwig directing LADY BIRD when I was a freshman in college who had just started studying film quite literally changed my life. I was like… that’s it. That’s what I want to do, and that’s who I want to be. pic.twitter.com/h09IZaWsok

— Zoë Rose Bryant (@ZoeRoseBryant) July 18, 2023

Barbie features Margot Robbie (Babylon) and Ryan Gosling (Blue Valentine) as the titular Barbie and Ken. Other cast members re-imagining Barbie would include Dua Lipa, Issa Rae, Hari Nef, Nicola Coughlan, Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Alexandra Shipp, Kate McKinnon, Sharon Rooney, and Ritu Arya.

Gosling is the film’s main Ken, but Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Ncuti Gatwa, and Scott Evans portray other variations of Ken. America Ferrera, Ariana Greenblatt, Connor Swindells, and Jamie Demetriou are “human” characters in the Real World. Helen Mirren serves as the film’s narrator, with Will Ferrell as Mattel’s CEO. Emerald Fennell stars as Midge, Barbie’s best friend, and Michael Cera stars as Allan, Ken’s best friend.

Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ throws us elevated heels first into the whimsical world of Barbie. Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are incredible to watch as they play the idea of dolls perfectly with such flair and humor that it goes off without a hitch. #BarbieTheMovie #BarbieMovie pic.twitter.com/KTMLq0xeGn

— Nikki Fowler (@NikkiFowler28) July 19, 2023

Congratulations to Greta Gerwig on making film history. We love her Barbie project and hope that fans go to the movies to watch it.