'Barbie’ Is Officially the First Billion-Dollar Movie Solely Directed by a Woman

Greta Gerwig and Barbie are making history together. This year's movie of the summer is officially a billion-dollar success, NPR reports, and it's also the only movie "solely directed" by a woman to hit the milestone. Warner Bros. estimated that the film surpassed the $1 billion mark over the weekend after premiering on July 21, 2023, which followed what felt like the longest marketing push in the history of cinema due to its sheer number of red carpets, collabs, and activations.

The "solely directed" detail puts Gerwig ahead of her peers, though multiple women have co-directed films that have earned over $1 billion. 

Both Frozen and Frozen II were co-directed by Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck. Fellow Disney production Captain Marvel was co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. NPR adds that while 53 films have made more than a billion dollars, Barbie is one of just nine that focus on female protagonists. Those nine films are: Finding Dory, Frozen, Frozen II, Beauty and the Beast (the 2017 live-action remake), Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Captain Marvel, Titanic, and the 2010 live-action Alice in Wonderland.

The fact that some of those films are animated and others are remakes speaks to what the industry is pushing, critics say.

"[This] is a reflection of what Hollywood has chosen to back with its biggest budgets, its largest marketing spends, and who it has ... given the opportunity to direct and write and star in these movies," The Hollywood Reporter's senior film editor, Rebecca Keegan, pointed out on an episode of the podcast The Town. "So, it's a little hard to say that that's responding to market forces versus that is a reflection of the culture that's driven Hollywood for decades."

The Town's host, Matthew Belloni, added another detail: on Barbie's opening weekend, women made up 69% of ticket buyers in America. "And then it actually rose to 71% female in the second weekend, which is unusual," he noted. 

Of course, in addition to financial success, Barbie is already getting Oscar buzz. Gerwig has been nominated for an Academy Award for her 2017 movie Ladybird, putting her in another exclusive club: only seven women have been nominated for Best Director.