‘Barbie’ Makes History as the Highest-Grossing Film of 2023, Surpassing THIS Movie

Barbie surpasses The Super Mario Bros. Movie… The most successful

The toy character beats the game character. Barbie has surpassed The Super Mario Bros. Movie and emerged as the year’s highest-grossing film.

According to the box office figures on the 4th, Barbie surpassed The Super Mario Bros. Movie with a worldwide revenue of $1.381 billion, taking the top spot in the global box office, ahead of The Super Mario Bros. Movie with $1.359 billion.

The film Barbie is based on Mattel’s representative product, Barbie dolls, and tells the story of Barbie, who faces a crisis in the imaginary world of Barbie Land and leaves for the real world to solve problems. It became a blockbuster film full of humorous satire about patriarchal thinking, earning over $600 million in sales in the North American region alone and causing a sensation.

The success of Barbie was not only due to the strength of the film itself but also to the symbiotic model found with Oppenheimer. When Barbie and Oppenheimer‘s highly anticipated two films were released on the same day, netizens created memes by combining the images and videos of the two films. They actively utilized them in marketing, creating a win-win effect for Barbie and Oppenheimer.

Oppenheimer earned $852.98 million worldwide, taking third place after Barbie and The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

Barbie did not resonate in Korea. Barbie attracted only 580,000 viewers (according to the Integrated Computer Network for Movie Tickets) until the 4th. Foreign media paid attention to the feminist message conveyed by Barbie.

The Guardian analyzed that Korea still receives low scores in gender equality among advanced countries, stating that “feminism has become associated with radical behavior and has taken on negative connotations,” suggesting that the negative sentiment towards feminism has affected Barbie‘s poor box office performance.

Barbie is the first film directed by a female director to surpass $1 billion, and it has also become Warner Bros.’s highest-grossing film, surpassing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 with $1.342 billion.