‘Barbie’ Surpasses ‘The Dark Knight’ to Become Warner Bros.’ Highest Grossing Domestic Film
The plastic phenom has done it again. On Tuesday, the live-action Barbie film surpassed another milestone, dethroning Christopher Nolan’s 2008 Batman epic The Dark Knight as the highest-grossing Warner Bros. film domestically, without adjusting for inflation.
Barbie raked in $6.1 million on Tuesday, pushing its North American total to $537.4 million, just above The Dark Knight’s final tally of $536 million.
Based on Mattel’s iconic doll, Barbie also crossed the $1.2 billion mark globally on Tuesday, becoming the second-highest-grossing Warner Bros. film ever internationally behind only the final Harry Potter film, which earned $1.34 billion worldwide, unadjusted for inflation. Barbie’s continued success suggests the doll-turned-movie star may soon overtake the bespectacled wizard as well.
The bubbly blockbuster shows no signs of stopping, continuing to charm audiences with its message of empowerment. Mattel’s beloved blonde seems destined for a billion-dollar future.
Greta Gerwig has shattered records as the highest-grossing female director ever at the domestic box office with her film Barbie, surpassing even Jennifer Lee’s Frozen II. She also now holds the record for the highest-grossing female director of a live-action film worldwide, beating out Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s 2019 Marvel hit Captain Marvel. Barbie has earned over $1.3 billion globally so far.
In an interesting turn of events, Barbie opened the same weekend as Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and the two highly anticipated films succeeded in reviving the summer box office. Nolan’s epic biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer has also wildly exceeded expectations, earning over $650 million globally already. The nearly 3-hour drama is now Nolan’s fifth highest-grossing film worldwide.
