‘Barbie’ Becomes Biggest Warner Bros. Movie Ever at Domestic Box Office, Beating ‘The Dark Knight’
by by Barbie has conquered the bats.
On Tuesday, the box office sensation notched another major milestone when passing up Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight to become the biggest Warner Bros. movie ever in North America, not adjusted for inflation.
Barbie’s Tuesday haul was $6.1 million, for a domestic total of $537.4 million. In 2008, The Dark Knight topped out at $536 million.
Inspired by Mattel’s famous doll, Barbie jumped the $1.2 billion mark at the worldwide box office on Tuesday, where it is the second-biggest Warners’ release in history behind the final Harry Potter film, which grossed $1.34 billion globally, not adjusted for inflation. (Bullish observers believe Barbie can pass the boy wizard as well.)
Among other key records shattered: Greta Gerwig ranks as the highest-grossing female director of all time at the domestic box office — solo or otherwise — after skating past Frozen II; and the highest-grossing female director of a live-action movie at the worldwide box office after passing up the $1.3 billion earned by Marvel Studios’ 2019 superhero pic Captain Marvel, which was directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. (Frozen II grossed $1.43 billion worldwide.)
As fate would have it, Barbie is linked to Nolan in more ways than one. Gerwig’s movie opened opposite Nolan’s Oppenheimer over the July 21-23 weekend, with the two event pics succeeding in rescuing the summer box office and igniting moviegoing.
From Universal, Oppenheimer has also exceeded all expectations, earning well north of $650 million to date. The three-hour biographical drama about the father of the atomic bomb is already Nolan’s fifth-biggest film at the global box office.
