It’s official: Deadline reports that Greta Gerwig‘s “Barbie” is now the highest-grossing domestic film of 2023. This comes to the surprise of no one who’s felt the Kenergy since the film hit theaters a little over a month ago with a $162 million opening weekend. “Barbie” now stands at over $575 million domestically, making it the highest-grossing film from Warner Bros. ever. Gerwig’s film beat Christopher Nolan‘s 2008 film “The Dark Knight” for that honor.
But “Barbie” still has to beat “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” on the world stage to become 2023’s biggest movie overall. The Universal animated film currently sits at $1.34 billion worldwide, with “Barbie” at $1.3 billion. It’s almost guaranteed that “Barbie” will become #1 by the end of the year, thanks to it getting an IMAX release with a never-before-seen post-credits scene on September 22. With “Oppenheimer” and “Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One” no longer hogging those theaters, “Barbie” will almost certainly reach #1 with its IMAX screenings, if not before.
But “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” won’t go down without a fight. That movie may already be streaming on Peacock, but it’s getting a re-release this weekend for National Cinema Day. Don’t expect a massive return for a film that came out in early April, but it may move its box office needle ever so slightly forward. And while “Barbie” may no longer be #1 at the box office after last weekend, expect it to keep making money through Labor Day weekend. It would surprise no one if Gerwig’s film passes “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” by then at the global box office.
Speaking of Gerwig, she issued a statement about the IMAX release o “Barbie” to drum up some hype. “The worldwide enthusiasm for Barbie has been overwhelming, humbling, and deeply moving,” said the director. “So many “Barbie” fans went on this journey with us, and we can’t thank them enough for supporting the film and sharing their “Barbie” experience in theaters, across social media, and out in the world. We made “Barbie” for the big screen, so it’s a thrill to be able to bring it to IMAX, the biggest screen of all. And as a special thanks to “Barbie” fans, we’re excited to share a little bit more of our cast and crew’s incredible work by adding special new footage we hope audiences will enjoy.”
Any guesses on what that post-credits sequence might be? Margot Robbie‘s Stereotypical Barbie is definitely in it, but let’s hope Ryan Gosling‘s Ken shows up, too. For “Barbie” fans, September 22 couldn’t come soon enough.