Barbie (2023)

[Duffman]

Of course they're sitting on top of the totem pole. Reread my post.

I will say that Barbie (and also weirdly Oppenheimer) seem to be doing way better than I thought

I don’t think it will catch the Mario Bros movies at $1.3 billion but Barbie will definitely finish the year #2. It’s at $775 million right now and it might get close to a billion but I don’t see it passing Mario.

 

[DarthVedder]

I don’t think it will catch the Mario Bros movies at $1.3 billion but Barbie will definitely finish the year #2. It’s at $775 million right now and it might get close to a billion but I don’t see it passing Mario.

Barbie is a cultural phenomenon that keeps surpassing expectations, it's very hard to predict how it's going to behave after these insane couple of weekends, especially without any real competition any time soon. I expected a drop-off because of the movie's divisive nature, but women are loving it for the most part (anecdotally, I liked it more than my wife did, even when I'm not the target audience and found it too preachy).

 

[Duffman]

Barbie is a cultural phenomenon that keeps surpassing expectations, it's very hard to predict how it's going to behave after these insane couple of weekends, especially without any real competition any time soon. I expected a drop-off because of the movie's divisive nature, but women are loving it for the most part (anecdotally, I liked it more than my wife did, even when I'm not the target audience and found it too preachy).

It definitely has well outperformed expectations which is great for them, I just think going into its third week I can’t see it doing $600 million more over its lifespan. While there are no huge movies coming out, I think with the influx of things like the new animated TMNT movie, The Meg 2, Strays, and even something like Blue Beetle(which will no doubt underperform) Barbie is gonna lose screens to those just based on the sheer volume of movies coming out the next several weeks.

 

[ill]

But in 15 years...I wouldn't be shocked if very few men were actually in charge of things.

Of course they're sitting on top of the totem pole. Reread my post.

I will say that Barbie (and also weirdly Oppenheimer) seem to be doing way better than I thought

I was mostly referring to your quote above about how men aren't going to be in charge of things in the future.

 

[Clayton]

I was mostly referring to your quote above about how men aren't going to be in charge of things in the future.

Its actually tough to say imo. You look at the NFL right now and you're finally starting to see black QBs enter the league as premier prospects. These are young 20 year olds. I don't think you're seeing that yet with coaches and owners are a whole different animal. Change takes time even after appropriate attitudes are put into place.

CEOs are 50 year olds generally. I think many millennials are in their 30s right now. Even if women are notably smarter as a whole I think it still takes awhile for that to correct itself. I do think that there is a possibility that women might dominate that top 10% of jobs but not the top 1% of jobs.

 

[Clayton]

They just murdered Tom Cruise and MI 7, which is a shame because that's a great movie.

But Barbenheimer is just a huge cultural phenomenon.

MI7 looks like it'll broke even for the most part and should be okay.

I'm just not sure the Mission Impossible brand is as strong as Super Mario, Barbie, or Spider-man and Oppenheimer doesn't have MI7's budget to deal with. To me, Oppenheimer is the bigger outlier when it comes to Barbenheimer and I kinda expect it to fall off before Barbie. That said, I do think people want to see Robert Downey Jr, Matt Damon and Emily Blunt in good movies.

 

[MilkSpiller22]

Its actually tough to say imo. You look at the NFL right now and you're finally starting to see black QBs enter the league as premier prospects. These are young 20 year olds. I don't think you're seeing that yet with coaches and owners are a whole different animal. Change takes time even after appropriate attitudes are put into place.

CEOs are 50 year olds generally. I think many millennials are in their 30s right now. Even if women are notably smarter as a whole I think it still takes awhile for that to correct itself. I do think that there is a possibility that women might dominate that top 10% of jobs but not the top 1% of jobs.

i dont think saying that women are notably smarter than men is a true statement....

at least not at the top... i guess in a population which is more female than male, you should get same proportion on top... but it is going to take a long time to get a similar proportion of men and women in our country to the proportion of men vs women in high position jobs...

i do agree that one day positions will all go to the most deserving... and one day, that will mean that it will be more women than men... just because of proportions...

But we are a long way away from this... has to be at least another 50+ years...

and no way women will dominate the higher positions... not ever...

 

[Jiddy]

Saw it with the wifey...It had it's funny moments. Ryan Gosling was really funny. America Ferrera character pontificating was the only really cringe thing that brought out the eye roll...So plug your ears at that part righties. (If you've seen it, you know which part I'm talking about)

Best part of the experience was just after the movie while I was waiting for the wife to go to the bathroom. This group of older ladies come out all in pink from our theater and one is just oogling on and on about Ryan Gosling being such a "great actor" and the other gals are just ribbing the hell out of her. Good fun.

 

[DarthVedder]

Congratulations to Barbie for being the newest member of the $1B club, and did it faster than Mario and even Avatar I think.

I'm sure it will be the number one movie of the year. Way to build a cultural phenomenon.

 

[BeaReylo]

I had the same idea as these chaps after coming out the movie... its so woke it has to be a satire of wokeness exposing it own hypocrisy or Greta Gerwig is so far gone she can't see how the Barbies were actually the oppressors and thus the very thing the movie is supposedly preaching against? It's even possible she made the movie like this intentionally so audiences can see whatever message they want from it?

 

[ill]

I had the same idea as these chaps after coming out the movie... its so woke it has to be a satire of wokeness exposing it own hypocrisy or Greta Gerwig is so far gone she can't see how the Barbies were actually the oppressors and thus the very thing the movie is supposedly preaching against? It's even possible she made the movie like this intentionally so audiences can see whatever message they want from it?

the movie does come around to the fact that the Barbies were oppressing the Kens. Did you not get that part?

Barbie literally tells Ken that he doesn't need to be her sidekick and doesn't need the approval of a Barbie to be a success.

it beats down the whole idea of patriarchy as well as preaching equality between genders.

 

[DJ]

 

[Comeds]

I have seen it 8 times and see something new each time. Greata Gerwig is amazing. I thought Lady Bird would be her shining moment, could not be more wrong. I guess her original pass on How I Met Your Dad being turned down is not such a big deal any more.

 

[Niner Outlaw]

I have seen it 8 times and see something new each time. Greata Gerwig is amazing. I thought Lady Bird would be her shining moment, could not be more wrong. I guess her original pass on How I Met Your Dad being turned down is not such a big deal any more.

 

[redskinsfan1963]

Barbie the movie: I can't wait

This will be a great for one reason: amy schumer

it,s the highest grossing movie in america this year,l heard its s streaming on max in october.

 

[BusSport]

No one’s beating Mario at $1.3 billion. Also I don’t see it beating Across the Spiderverse which is currently at almost $700 million. Spiderverse’s first week in the US did about $120 million which I think Barbie will do, but I don’t see Barbie having the legs Spider-Man did when people realize it’s not a movie to take your children to.

Looking at this list, I don’t see it beating any movie in the top 5.

2024 Worldwide Box Office

www.boxofficemojo.com

"Barbie Is Officially the Highest-Grossing Release of the Year with $1.36 Billion Globally", overtaking The Super Mario Bros. Movie

 

[Duffman]

"Barbie Is Officially the Highest-Grossing Release of the Year with $1.36 Billion Globally", overtaking The Super Mario Bros. Movie

Hey I definitely underestimated the legs of both Barbie and Oppenheimer had. Good for them.

 

[Clayton]

I think the reason Barbie and Oppenheimer made more money than the other movies is because they're better movies than the other movies.

Really good casting overall. Funnier than expected. Visual adherence to Barbie as a product really makes a lot of this work. Some of the jokes were very oddly specific but its refreshing to see movies that aren't designed with every single demographic in mind. Even Will Ferrell was better than I expected. It seems like he is in famous, good movies and awful bombs and almost nothing in-between. My only beef is when the movie becomes a bit too much 'tell' and not enough 'show' just to make sure that everyone gets what the movie is about. Its fairly powerful with Barbie so I get it but the Kenough thing seemed a bit redundant.

My wife brought up a point and my memory of working at Toys R Us certainly has me thinking the same thing: there might have been President Barbie and Doctor Barbie and all that a few decades ago but 80%+ of the Barbies were Beach or Barbie in Dresses. Feminists long critiqued Barbie for a reason and while the movie is hard on Barbie as a product it also gives it a bit too much credit, too.

I dont plan on seeing it 8 times. Maybe twice.

 

[The Q]

I think the reason Barbie and Oppenheimer made more money than the other movies is because they're better movies than the other movies.

Really good casting overall. Funnier than expected. Visual adherence to Barbie as a product really makes a lot of this work. Some of the jokes were very oddly specific but its refreshing to see movies that aren't designed with every single demographic in mind. Even Will Ferrell was better than I expected. It seems like he is in famous, good movies and awful bombs and almost nothing in-between. My only beef is when the movie becomes a bit too much 'tell' and not enough 'show' just to make sure that everyone gets what the movie is about. Its fairly powerful with Barbie so I get it but the Kenough thing seemed a bit redundant.

My wife brought up a point and my memory of working at Toys R Us certainly has me thinking the same thing: there might have been President Barbie and Doctor Barbie and all that a few decades ago but 80%+ of the Barbies were Beach or Barbie in Dresses. Feminists long critiqued Barbie for a reason and while the movie is hard on Barbie as a product it also gives it a bit too much credit, too.

I dont plan on seeing it 8 times. Maybe twice.

It’s not Surprising the fat cancers don’t like pretty things

 

[Clayton]

It’s not Surprising the fat cancers don’t like pretty things

There is a line in Barbie with the narrator suggesting that Margot Robbie is the wrong character to be playing the part which is a bit of interesting meta commentary because she is actually perfect for the part of Barbie even if its really about some other woman in the real world.

I do think the movie has third act problems that hold it back from being something like movie of the year. I think there were ways to make the movie more satisfying and they kinda opted out because Ryan Gosling and his portrayal of Ken is more entertaining than anything else they could have done. There was definitely a window there to show the real Barbie working towards a functioning family unit with the daughter and dad. The dad is in about 10 seconds of the movie I think, looks a bit like maybe they were going for an older real Ken that was working on himself. Could've gone full-on Bluey showing everyone learning a lesson and feeling good. The had an out with Barbie being a stand in for any woman and rejecting Ken. The Barbie could be straight, independent, lesbian, whatever but the woman in real life playing with her was millennial/gen x married woman with 1 kid. Without connecting Ken to the real dad I think it leaves an awkwardness to the ending of the movie.

Still, if I'm ranking the four movies I saw his year then its pretty clearly: Oppenheimer > Barbie > Guardian 3 > Napoleon