Margot Robbie already predicted long before the expected release of Barbie in cinemas that the first live-action film of the famous Mattel doll would reach a billion dollars. Not surprisingly, the spunky Australian actress not only took on the challenge of playing the role of the stereotypical blonde Barbie on the big screen, but also co-produced a story with Mattel Films and Warner Bros. written by the married couple Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach that has become the phenomenon of the summer and viral of the year, in addition to being a critical and public success.
And it was she who was clear that the ingenious and talented director of Mujercitas and Lady bird had to carry the baton when transferring to fiction the incomparable pink universe that has marked so many generations of girls since Barbie bursting into store windows in 1959. The Robbie-Gerwig tandem has worked big and in just 17 days – the film opened on July 20 in Spain and the United States, and in most markets of the world a day later – has raised the coveted barrier of one billion dollars at the global box office.
It is not the only milestone achieved by this production, since Barbie has become the highest-grossing film in history directed by a woman and ranks as the second best film of the year in Spain, only surpassed by the animated film Super Mario Bros: The Movie , which has accumulated 1.356 million dollars since it landed in theaters on April 5, which confirms that the leading role of mythical characters such as the perfect blonde doll or the plumber mustachioed have been essential in reclaiming the power of cinemas in a year in which the audiovisual industry is being affected by the strikes of Hollywood screenwriters and actors.
A Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s acclaimed biopic about the considered father of the atomic bomb that hit the box office on the same day as Barbie, giving rise to the phenomenon known as Barbenheimer, is also not doing too badly in its journey through the sales: It has already accumulated more than 500 million dollars, according to the official estimates of Universal Pictures, and it ranks as the highest-grossing biographical title set in the Second World War.
Now Barbie faces the challenge of surpassing the $1.3 and $1.45 million collected by Disney’s animated films Frozen (2013) and Frozen II (2019), co-directed by a woman, Jennifer Lee. And another director, Anna Boden, signed on alongside Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel ($1.1 million). But no solo like Gerwig has flown as far – Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman stayed at 822 million. According to experts, Barbie could end its period in theaters with between 1,350 and 1,550 million dollars, and in any case it would be an unmitigated triumph.
The incredible success of this version, which claims the toy as a feminist icon with a lot of humor, music and emotion, while receiving a badge for promoting gender equality, has led Warner to extend its exhibition window , opting to release it on the HBO Max platform when it starts to falter at the box office. “As distributors, we’re not usually dumbfounded by the success of a movie, but Barbie has blown away even our most optimistic predictions,” said the presidents of distribution for the production company, Jeff Goldstein and Andrew Cripps, in a statement they recently made public.
As the popular song of the Danish group Aqua said around 1997: “Life in plastic, it’s fantastic”. Or not?
Despite all the applause, the numerous memes generated on the networks and the fanaticism that has arisen around the famous doll – in many cinemas there have been long queues and people have dressed in pink to attend the screening – it is still not has officially spoken of a possible sequel.
However, Mattel has seen Barbie as the hen that lays the golden eggs and has already announced a series of films based on fourteen of its most popular toys. One of the most prominent works on is Polly Pocket, written and directed by Lena Dunham and with Lily Collins leading the cast about a real-life account of the tiny dolls that fit in your pocket.
Another is a Hot Wheels adventure produced by J. J. Abrams, who already describes it as “earthy and dusty”. The mythical 8 Ball will probably be a thriller with violent content and American Girl sounds like a family comedy. Space is also being sought for Masters of the Universe, in which Kyle Allen (West Side Story) will assume the role of He-Man after the departure of Noah Centineo. British actor Daniel Kaluuya will serve as producer of a surreal reinterpretation of Barney the dinosaur, and the card game UNO will jump into fiction, with rapper Lil Yachty as the main protagonist.
Although the company’s path to Hollywood began in 2018, after a complex period of low sales, Mattel is now going all out with new live-action productions that aspire to repeat the amazing feat of Barbie.
Will he succeed or will the public end up tired of the lack of ideas that end up giving rise to so many spin-offs and sequels as has happened with Marvel’s superheroes? Only time will tell.
For now, we need to toast and be positive for this magnificent return to cinemas that the Barbenheimer phenomenon has brought about.
