Greta Gerwig Makes Box Office History as ‘Barbie’ Scores Biggest Opening Weekend Ever for Female Director

variety.com:

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Three cheers for Director Barbie. Greta Gerwig cemented box office history as her cotton candy-colored blockbuster “Barbie” scored a massive $155 million in its opening weekend, marking the biggest debut ever for a film directed by a woman. “Captain Marvel,” which was co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, previously held the title with $153 million in 2019. “Wonder Woman,” from filmmaker Patty Jenkins, stood as the record-holder for a movie solely directed by a woman with $103 million in 2017. “Barbie” has notched several other box office records, including the biggest opening weekend of the year — besting “The Super Mario Bros.

Movie” ($146 million). And thanks to the phenomenon of “Barbenheimer” — hundreds of thousands of moviegoers opted to watch double features of “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s historical drama “Oppenheimer,” which opened to a remarkable $80.5 million — it was not only the largest overall box office weekend since the pandemic, but it was also the fourth-biggest collective weekend of all time.

The top three overall weekends in history were led by the debuts of “Avengers: Endgame” ($402 million collectively in April 2019), “Avengers: Infinity War” ($314 million collectively in April of 2018) and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($313 million collectively in December of 2015).

The movie has been embraced by critics (it holds a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (it landed an “A” CinemaScore). Initial crowds were 65% female, which is notable because it’s almost always the inverse for any movie that generates over $100 million in its debut. “Barbie” cost $145 million, not including a marketing campaign that propelled the movie into the mainstream long