Greta Gerwig’s movie will race pass the $200 million mark at the domestic box office Tuesday, while Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ will clear $100 million.
So this apparently broke a record for sales, but isn’t that kind of pointless when inflation and movie ticket prices are higher than ever? Should ticket quantities matter more when determining a movies popularity?
Marketing bullshit.
Wait, you mean movies overall aren’t just more popular than they’ve ever been in the history of entertainment? You mean studios are trying to bring more people in by suggesting they’re missing out on this incredibly popular time for cinema?
…checks out.
Yeah, but box office records are often not adjusted for inflation. People frequently compare movies from a several decades ago, which even at 2% inflation, ads up over the years.
IMHO, it’s not worth getting caught up in the detail. The point is that Barbie is making a fuck load of money. It’s over $200m US domestic since it opened on Friday, and the movie cost $145m to make. No one’s going to lose money on Barbie. They going to make a grip. Especially after you count international tickets and all the damn toys and merch.
Even that is misleading if the population is growing. Really it should be ticket sales per capita if we truly want to figure out the most popular movie of all time.
By these rules, Gone with the Wind likely wins.
But it’s still not a good comparison because of other factors. First off, movie theaters didn’t used to compete with television, cable, video games, DVDs, streaming, or social media for your free time. The industry was also a lot smaller, meaning there were fewer high profile movies dividing up that whole pie. The lack of practical home video also meant popular films like Gone with the Wind would get frequently re-issued and continue racking up ticket sales.
It is essentially impossible to accurately compare the popularity of any two movies separated by more than a decade or two.
Gone with the wind has such a huge lead when adjusting for inflation it’s insane, 390 million dollars when movie tickets were 25 cents. That’s over 1.5 billion tickets. It’s also 8 billion dollars in today’s money.
This is my new favorite movie stat.
Saw it over the weekend and it was WAY more sophisticated than I was expecting, even with the director’s track record. Would definitely recommend.
It is legitimately a good movie, straight up.
Look forward to Barbie 2-5 in the coming decade.
You know it’s coming.
BCU confirmed.
Can’t wait for the one where she makes out with G.I. Joe.
Why would you say something so controversial yet so brave?
Is everyone dressing pink where you live? Here in São Paulo everyone is on pink, not only the women, but the men and the children too.
DUDE! I was working in a coffee shop today and someone came in wearing what I would describe as “Tennis Barbie-core”. I had no idea if it was a bit, but they walked in like it was Tuesday. I was in the same shopping center as a movie theater, but also this was a bougie area, so it’s really a coin flip.
Probably the movie, because it was Tuesday. On Wednesdays, however…
Let’s be honest anything with Margot Robbie is going to be popular. While the idea of a Barbie movie doesn’t really appeal to me when I get the chance I’m going to watch it just because Margot is a damn goddess.
Not trying to take anything away from her acting she’s damn good but her looks definitely give her a few steps up as well.
For me it’s a combo. It’s Greta Girwig directing. It’s Margot Robbie it’s Ryan Gosling. It’s the campy nonserious vibe of the trailer and the marketing, and it’s because my girlfriend wants to see it. All that adds up and I’m very curious about this film.
Edit: Straight up the marketing is wild as well. I don’t know if this is common, but I went on a road trip the other day and stopped by a casino in New Mexico and there was Barbie stuff all over the place. A Barbie game, a Barbie photo booth, a Barbie stage, Barbie competitions. Is this common? Do films normally market like this in casinos? It felt kind of surreal
I think when a studio invests as much as they have in a household name product with mass appeal, they do this kind of marketing. I’m not saying this with any sources or anything to back up, but thinking of how Star Wars and other similar titles will market their brand on anything and everything (including literal tangerines with star wars branding), I think this is the norm for something of this caliber and potential.
Babylon bombed.
Yes Babylon was (very) overlong and downbeat. Interesting her performance in Babylon, Barbie and Once Upon A Time in Hollywood were a similar masterclass in charm, beauty with naivete and tinged with sadness. I don’t consider myself a fan, but when she’s good she’s incredible :)
Sigh.
Somebody really needs to get a better agent.
I’m working in a cinema now and it’s intense but very good times for us. Lovely to see this many happy customers. One hell of a double bill if you have the stamina ;)
I think reading the salty letterboxd comments is half the fun of this. Well, 100% of the fun as I have yet to see it. But I absolutely will see it because goddamn, Greta Gerwig’s take on Barbie?!? What’s not to love?
Sign the contract for the actors and writers WB. ✊
