Barbie is nearly in the top 10 highest-grossing films in U.S. after surpassing "The Avengers" at no. 11
"Barbie" made another $4 million at the box office this weekend – nearly two months after it premiered – putting its domestic gross at more than $626 million. The film pushed out "The Avengers" as the 11th highest-grossing film domestically and is nearly in the top 10 highest-grossing films in the U.S. of all time, according to Box Office Mojo.
"Barbie" beat "The Avengers" by $2,764,233, pushing it down into the No. 12 spot on the domestic box office list. The Greta Gerwig film needs to make $27.28 million to dethrone 2015's "Jurassic World" in the No. 10 spot.
The highest-grossing film domestically is 2015's "Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens," which has raked in more than $936 million in the U.S.
When factoring in worldwide sales, 2009's "Avatar" – which is No. 4 on the domestic list – is No. 1, with $2.9 billion in worldwide lifetime gross. "Barbie" is No. 14 on the worldwide list, having made $1.4 billion so far, according to Box Office Mojo, which tracks the domestic and worldwide gross of movies.
Considering most of the highest-grossing films both domestically and worldwide are superhero or fantasy movies – with a few exceptions, such as "Titanic" and "Top Gun" – "Barbie" stands out as a pink-drenched comedy with a heartwarming message about women empowerment.
All of the top 20 films on the highest-grossing list domestically are directed by men – except "Barbie," making it the highest-grossing film directed by a woman ever.
"Frozen II" – No. 22 on the list with a $477 million domestic gross – is the second-highest-grossing film directed by a woman, according to Box Office Mojo. Jennifer Lee co-directed both of the "Frozen" films, alongside Chris Buck.
After it premiered on July 21, "Barbie" held the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office for four weeks. It has remained on the charts since, first slipping out of the No. 2 spot the weekend of Sept. 8, when several new movies, including "The Nun II" and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3," premiered.
As it moved up the box office charts, "Barbie" first made history by becoming Warner Bros. Discovery's highest-grossing film, surpassing the domestic gross of 2008's "The Dark Knight" in August.
There are several Barbie characters in the film, but Margot Robbie plays the "stereotypical Barbie" who is blonde, ambitious and wears a lot of pink. Ryan Gosling plays one of the many Ken dolls in the film and America Ferrera plays the Mattel employee Barbie meets in the real world when she leaves "Barbieland."
The star-studded film also includes Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae and Simu Liu as other Barbie and Ken dolls and Will Ferrell as the head of Mattel.
The movie sparked an increase in so-called "Barbie core" – essentially an explosion of pink clothing and accessories. The mainly pink movie set encouraged moviegoers to wear their best pink Barbie-themed outfits to the movie theater – and also caused a shortage of pink paint from the brand Rosco.
"Barbie: The Album," which includes songs from the soundtrack and is produced by Mark Ronson, peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart. It has been on the chart for seven weeks and is currently in the No. 7 spot.
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Caitlin O'Kane is a digital content producer covering trending stories for CBS News and its good news brand, The Uplift.
