"Barbie" Makes History With $1-B At The Box Office

“Barbie” has answered the billion-dollar question with a resounding “yes.”

Photo Insert: As one half of the viral “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, it isn’t shocking “Barbie” has performed well.

Barely three weeks into its run, writer-director Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster has raked in an astounding $1.03 billion at the global box office, according to official Warner Bros. estimates.

This makes Gerwig the first solo female director with a billion-dollar movie, Eva Rothenberg reported for CNN.

As one half of the viral “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, it isn’t shocking “Barbie” has performed well. And, standing on her own two feet, the doll’s incredible success is not unexpected at all.

“I’ve been in this game for 30 years and the Barbie and Barbenheimer phenomenon is as unprecedented as it was unpredictable,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.

According to Dergarabedian, only about 50 films in history, unadjusted for inflation, have hit the billion-dollar mark. He added the movie’s marketing campaign was the first hint “Barbie” would be a box office smash.

“The marketing campaign for ‘Barbie’ set into motion a chain of events that led to the word “Barbenheimer” being added to the popular lexicon by virtue of its shared release date with ‘Oppenheimer,’ and that’s when we all knew something very special and unique was going to create a much bigger than expected outcome for the film not only for the opening weekend, but for its global run in theaters.”

In an interview with Collider last month, Margot Robbie — who produced the movie in addition to playing the titular character — shared a premonition she had at a greenlight meeting with studios.

“I think I told them they’d make a billion dollars which, maybe I was overselling, but we had a movie to make!” she said.

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