Barbie Makes a Billion Dollars

The day has arrived. Barbie has made $1 billion (or Barbillion as the internet is calling it) at the global box office.

Since its opening weekend success, the prophecy that Margot Robbie spoke into the universe in that initial pitch meeting with Warner Brothers has been edging closer and closer, and after just 17 days in theaters, Barbie joins the billion-dollar club.

"You've got Barbie and Greta Gerwig... and I think I told them they'd make a billion dollars, which maybe I was overselling, but we had a movie to make, okay?" she told Collider before the film's release, but looks like the oversell was, in fact, an undersell.

The good news doesn't stop there because this milestone also means that Barbie becomes the first film solely directed by a woman to hit $1 billion.

Greta Gerwig has been slowly creeping up the box office ladder after her first solo directorial effort, Lady Bird, made close to $79 million from a $10 million budget. Her star fuelled Little Women then went on to make almost $219 million from its $40 million budget, and now she adds Barbie to her long list of accomplishments making $1 billion from a $145 million budget.

The trend suggests that audiences want female-centric narratives told through a lens of compassion and understanding. Gerwig's expertise in crafting truth from humour has, no doubt, led to Barbie's success, and whatever she does next will be awaited with great anticipation around the world.