Barbie against Mario, the big duel of 2023
2023 is a year full of exciting releases in both video games and cinema. The first half has already brought us incredible films like “John Wick 4”, “Creed 3”, “Indiana Jones 5”, and “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning (Part 1)”. And the start of summer has witnessed an indirect battle between two highly anticipated films: “Oppenheimer” directed by Nolan, which tells the story of the inventor of the atomic bomb, and “Barbie” directed by Greta Gerwig, a fantastic comedy starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling revolving around the iconic doll.
Barbie surpasses Super Mario Bros. at the box office
Out of these two, “Barbie” quickly took the lead at the box office, surpassing the highly anticipated “Super Mario Bros. The film”. In North America, “Barbie” has become the highest-grossing film of the year, earning a staggering 575.4 million dollars (531 million euros). On the other side of the Atlantic, “Super Mario Bros. The film” generated $574 million. It’s only a matter of time before “Barbie” surpasses Mario worldwide, as it has already earned $1.3 billion compared to Mario’s $1.35 billion since its release in April. These two films are the only ones to have crossed the billion-dollar mark and are now competing for the top spot. Will Barbie reclaim the crown?
Barbie and Ken seduce, the other proofs of the film’s success
Barbie’s success goes beyond its box office earnings. It holds the record for the best opening for a film directed by a woman and is also the most profitable film in history solely directed by a woman. Furthermore, “Barbie” has surpassed another Nolan film, “The Dark Knight,” in terms of box office rankings within Warner Bros. It even surpassed the iconic “The Dark Knight,” which had generated $536 million. However, there is still a long way to go to dethrone the number one spot currently held by “Harry Potter: The Deathly Hallows (Part 2)” with $1.34 billion earned in North America.
Overall, the Barbie film has become one of the greatest successes in cinema history. In North America, it ranks as the 14th highest-grossing film, and on a global scale, it ranks among the top 20 highest-grossing films of all time.
