Greta Gerwig has broken the domestic box office record for a female director, with Barbie debuting at $155m in North America and $337m globally.
The film surpassed the $103.3m domestic opening of Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman and the $153m weekend opening of 2019’s Captain Marvel, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Cinemas around the world were busier than ever over the weekend, thanks to the simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer, with excitement for Gerwig and Christopher Nolan’s respective blockbusters going into overdrive.
While Oppenheimer’s critical ratings have blown past Barbie with a near-perfect Rotten Tomato score, the latter, which stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, has surpassed the Cillian Murphy-starring biopic’s box office takings.
In a new interview with The Independent, Nolan described Oppenheimer as “the biggest film I’ve made”. Murphy admitted to struggling to watch the film due to seeing his face projected on the screen, but acknowledged that the film is “designed” to be “watched with an audience”.
Meanwhile, Gerwig has spoken about her film’s “mic drop” ending, after breaking the record for the biggest box office debut by a female director.
