In case you’ve somehow missed the news, Barbie is something of a force of nature. Indeed, Greta Gerwig‘s wickedly incisive fantasy comedy has been box office gold in the making for some time now. With the film officially hitting the $1 billion mark at the box office, it seems the prophecy has come true several times over.
Barbie had already been scooping up its fair share of box office records, notably the best opening of 2023 and the biggest-ever opening for a film spearheaded by a female director. With this new milestone, Barbie became the first film led by a solo female director to claim such an achievement. Naturally, it’s nothing but several rounds of applause for Gerwig and her feminist masterclass.
The rivalry with Oppenheimer may have helped the endeavor, but in no way does that take away from the many merits that Barbie confidently displays over its runtime, the sum of which is more than deserving of such a victory. And besides, in this day and age, success rarely comes without a hefty dosage of memes to go along with it.
Of course, for those with a particularly keen eye and even more particular opinions on the state of cinema, Barbie‘s success just might, poetically enough, be an “Oppenheimer moment.”
All jokes aside, Gerwig’s achievement is something to be celebrated, and while Hollywood and the world at large still have a long way to go in the realm of gender relations, Barbie is an absolute benchmark for those who dream of the best possible tomorrow.
Barbie is now playing in theaters.