Barbie beats final Harry Potter film in impressive new box office record

Jul 08, 2023

Barbie has secured yet another box office landmark as it surpassed the eighth Harry Potter film to become Warner Bros’ most successful worldwide release ever.

The Greta Gerwig-directed feature, released in July, was an instant hit with audiences following a colourful and campy promotional campaign.

Starring Margot Robbie as the titular doll, Barbie shot to the top of box office charts worldwide and has remained popular in the five weeks since its release.

On Monday (29 August), the film passed $1.342bn (£1.06bn) at the global box office, which was the amount grossed by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.

Until now, the eighth and final teen wizarding movie based on JK Rowling’s novels was Warner Bros’ top-grossing film.

In the US, Barbie’s numbers hit $592.8m (£470m) on Sunday (27 August), while its overseas tally was $745.5m (£591m).

It is projected to cross the $600m mark in the US later this week, and will become only the 13th movie in history to do so.

Barbie’s massive success for Warner Bros has seen it reach several significant landmarks. Previously, it sailed past Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight to become the film company’s biggest release in North America.

As well as this, it is officially the highest-grossing title of the year in North American cinemas after surpassing the earnings of The Super Mario Bros Movie, released in April.

Earlier this month, after three weeks of being in cinemas, Barbie had raked in $1.03bn worldwide, and became the highest-grossing film by a single female director. Currently, Frozen II (co-directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck) holds the title of the top-grossing film of all time by a female director at an impressive $1.43bn (£1.13bn) made worldwide.

Gerwig, who also wrote the film with her partner and frequent collaborator Noah Baumbach, is the highest-grossing female director of all time at the domestic box office, as well as the highest-grossing female director of a live-action movie worldwide.

Responding to this new global milestone, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group co-CEOs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy shared their pride in a statement.

“Reaching this outstanding achievement is a reminder of the power of moviegoers – from countries in every corner of the globe – coming together to further the celebration of an iconic character that has entertained us for so many decades,” they wrote.