Barbie smashes records to become Warner Bros highest grossing movie ever

Barbiemania shows no signs of abating, as new figures reveal that the Warner Bros release has smashed all records to become the studio’s highest-grossing global release in its 100-year history.

Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ movie has beaten previous record-holder, the 2011 ‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2,’ edging out the saga’s finale by $767,505, according to Comscore projections. Comscore estimates that Barbie made a global total of $1,341,854,460 by Monday, as reported by CNN. 

Barbie stars Australian actress Margot Robbie (who’s production company LuckyChap Entertainment also produced the movie), alongside US actor, Ryan Gosling, as Ken. Alongside a supporting cast which includes America Ferrera, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman and Will Ferrell.

A masterpiece in marketing 

Barbie reportedly had a marketing budget of £150m, a bigger budget than the movie itself. And a global publicity campaign in full steam that has kept the film front-of-mind for consumers for many weeks after its box office release. Showing the true power of great marketing.

But it’s not just Barbiemania that has taken the world by storm, the double summer release of the movies Barbie and World War II thriller Oppenheimer, dubbed ‘Barbenheimer,’ combined with music tours by Taylor Swift and Beyonce, has reportedly added billions to the US economy.

The megastars’ tours and blockbuster films are expected to add up to $8.5bn to US growth in the third quarter, according to Bloomberg Economics. 

The nearly 50 US concerts the artists have scheduled could add $5.4bn to gross domestic product, while the films Barbie and Oppenheimer are projected to add about $3.1bn in consumer spending exports from international ticket sales. 

‘Audiences are flocking’

Barbie: The Movie has sent “audiences flocking to theatres in droves, igniting a cinematic frenzy like never before!” said analysts at Comscore Movies Platform, which provides detailed insight and analytics on the film industry. 

In the UK & Ireland, the opening weekend went up to £18.5 million and in Spain over €5.1 million. As for US domestic, Barbie’s $162 million opening weekend proved its appeal to audiences, while Oppenheimer netted an impressive $82.4 million, revealed Comscore.

“It’s truly unprecedented to witness not just one, but two films perform so remarkably well and mutually bolster each other with the ‘Barbenheimer’ trend,” says Comscore Senior Media Analyst, Paul Dergarabedian. 

“I’m hard-pressed to recall any comparable instances in history where both movies experienced growth thanks to their interdependence,” he added.

Barbenheimer’ has exceeded all expectations, but the most remarkable thing is that it has also become an unstoppable social phenomenon.

The power of social media

In the age of digital media dominance, social media platforms are instrumental in promoting movies to a global audience in the lead-up to opening weekends.

Looking closely at social media engagement, TikTok and Instagram emerged as key platforms. They fostered engagement with content related to Barbie, Oppenheimer, and ‘Barbenheimer’, reported Comscore.

For Barbie-related content, TikTok outperformed in Spain and the US with over 526 million and 5.2 million social actions, respectively. 

In the UK, Instagram led with over 120 million social actions. Oppenheimer-related content saw TikTok again leading in the US, achieving 161.1 million actions.

In the UK and Spain, however, Facebook (3.3 million actions) and Instagram (836.7 thousand actions) dominated socials. 

Content mentioning the ‘Barbenheimer’ hybrid effect had varied results. It saw less popularity in Spain but received significant engagement in the US, primarily via TikTok (44.1 million actions) and in the UK, Instagram topped social engagement with 4.6 million actions.

Barbie’s social influence

What sets Barbie apart is its unmatched success on TikTok and Instagram – captivating millions of users with its unique AI filter that transformed selfies into Barbie-like characters, as analysed in Comscore’s blogpost, “Barbie movie” went viral. You might have helped.

The global success of Barbie on social media not only speaks to the platform’s reach but indicates the effectiveness of a well-executed marketing strategy. 

In July, content mentioning Barbie had already garnered over 404.5m interactions across Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Twitter, in a month-by-month analysis.

The broader take out is that by catering to the preferences and demographics of each social media platform’s user base, movie marketers can tailor their promotional efforts to maximise engagement and viewership.

Comscore said there are further learnings for brands aligned with these releases, such as Mattel. Along with its Barbie Social Handles, the craze of Barbieland is successfully reaching out to previously untapped audiences who haven’t engaged with their brand on social media in the past six months. 

“We see this play out when we personify the two different social footprints of engagers using Comscore’s Social Affinity data alongside the ability to easily see the massive increase in the number of distinct people who engaged on Instagram, as an example, with the fashion doll and fictional character’s content,” the analytics firm added.

This newfound exposure to a broader audience presents a key opportunity for long-term growth and market expansion. It encourages marketers to find creative and immersive ways to connect with audiences.

Far from being dead, with the popularity of streaming giants such as Netflix, ‘Barbenheimer’ has proved that the movie industry can stay front and centre when it comes to capturing audience attention on the global stage, like no other.

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