Barbie and the First Female Cinema Billionaire

Monday, December 22, 2025

SAEDNEWS: The film Barbie by Greta Gerwig grossed over $1 billion worldwide after two weeks in theaters.

Barbie and the First Female Cinema Billionaire

According to Saed News, the film Barbie earned $53 million over the weekend, bringing its total North American box office to $459.4 million and crossing the $1 billion mark worldwide, securing a major profit for Warner Bros.

This global total includes $572.1 million from international markets, making Barbie the second film of 2023 to surpass $1 billion, following Universal and Illumination’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which grossed $1.35 billion.

The simultaneous theatrical release of Barbie and Oppenheimer generated a $180 million weekend in the U.S., despite widespread Hollywood strikes. This represents a 90% increase compared to the same weekend last year and a 19% growth over 2019 figures.

Directed by Greta Gerwig, Barbie is the first film in history directed solely by a woman to join the billion-dollar club. It has now surpassed North American box office milestones set by Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman ($413 million) and Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck’s Captain Marvel ($426 million), making it the highest-grossing live-action film in the U.S. by a female director.

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer also saw strong sales in its third week, with over $500 million earned worldwide to date. Last weekend, it grossed $28.7 million in the U.S., bringing its domestic total to $228.6 million. Internationally, it added $52.8 million, pushing its global total to $552.9 million.

With worldwide earnings exceeding $552 million, Oppenheimer is now the highest-grossing World War II film, surpassing Nolan’s own Dunkirk ($527 million) and Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan ($482 million).

The film has received widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike. It offers a comprehensive look at the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the American theoretical physicist and pioneer of the atomic bomb, with Cillian Murphy portraying Oppenheimer.

The screenplay is based on the book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer. Alongside Murphy, the cast includes Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr., Kenneth Branagh, and Casey Affleck.