Greta Gerwig is looking at her biggest opening weekend ever as Barbie box office tracking has begun to take shape. Per The Hollywood Reporter, industry projections have put Barbie in a wide range for the opening, but around $80 million is where many are landing. Others have it closer to $60 million, while others have pulled out an outlandish (yet possible) $100 million opening weekend.
This opening would be Greta Gerwig’s biggest opening in her career, with her last effort, Little Women earning a respectable $16.8 million for the smaller awards contender. As for the film’s leading lady Margot Robbie, this is higher than her $26.1 million opening for The Suicide Squad in 2021 but nowhere near the impressive $133.7 million during 2016’s Suicide Squad‘s first weekend.
As for an unlikely box office rival, Oppenheimer, the Christopher Nolan film is predicted to earn $40 million. As it opens against the hotly-anticipated Barbie, Oppenheimer is tracking to be one of Nolan’s lowest openings since The Prestige brought in $14.8 million. For comparison, if you don’t look at the pandemic-era release of Tenet, Nolan’s last outing with 2017’s Dunkirk opened first with $50.1 million.
The Barbie dolls have great legs, but will Gerwig and Robbie’s Barbie movie have legs at the box office? Only time will tell, but this summer desperately needs another box-office smash.
After being expelled from the utopian Barbie Land for being a less-than-perfect doll, Barbie and Ken go on a journey of self-discovery to the real world.
Directed by Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird, Little Women), the Barbie movie sees Robbie and Gosling’s iconic toy couple joined by a bumper cast that includes Will Ferrell (Step Brothers), Simu Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings), Kate McKinnon (Bombshell), America Ferrera (Superstore), Ariana Greenblatt (Love and Monsters), Emma Mackey (Sex Education), Alexandra Shipp (tick, tick… BOOM!), Issa Rae (The Lovebirds), Michael Cera (Arrested Development), Hari Nef (And Just Like That…), Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night in Miami), Rhea Perlman (Cheers), Ncuti Gatwa (Sex Education), Emerald Fennell (The Crown), Sharon Rooney (The Electrical Life of Louis Wain), Scott Evans (Grace and Frankie), Ana Cruz Kayne (Little Women), Connor Swindells (Sex Education), Ritu Arya (The Umbrella Academy), Jamie Demetriou (Fleabag) and Helen Mirren (Shazam! Fury of the Gods).
Barbie is set for release on July 21st, 2023.
