Greta Gerwig Makes History at the Box Office with Barbie

Among the headlines coming out of this weekend's record-setting box office, perhaps the most exciting of all is that Barbie has become the biggest debut for a film directed by a woman.

Barbie is Greta Gerwig's third solo directorial effort after previously delivering Academy Award-nominated hits Lady Bird and Little Women.

Her biggest film yet, with an estimated budget of $145 million before marketing, Barbie has led her to beat the record set by co-directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck in 2019 for Captain Marvel, which earned $153 at the domestic box office in its opening weekend.

Barbie surpassed that and smashed more ceilings by also beating this year's current biggest opening weekend for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which hit cinemas in April. The film opened to $146 million at the domestic box office and went on to make $1.3 billion made worldwide.

Greta Gerwig surprised an audience at Alamo Drafthouse in Brooklyn this weekend to introduce a screening of Barbie.

In a tearful speech, she said, "When we made this movie, we made it with so much joy and hope, and we hoped that people would go back to the movie theaters and be all together". She went on to say, "I've never been part of anything like this", expressing her gratitude for them coming out to see the film.

Review aggregate site, Rotten Tomatoes, shows Barbie sitting at 90% with both the critics and the audiences, proving the film is universally loved.

The response shows demand for women-led stories told by women.