Margot Robbie always knew “Barbie” would be a massive hit.
The Australian actor told Warner Bros. Discovery executives that the ultra-pink film would make $1 billion at the box office, and as it turns out, she was totally right.
On Sunday, Variety reported that the nostalgic blockbuster reached the milestone a mere 17 days after its theater release.
“Barbie” director Greta Gerwig is the first-ever solo female filmmaker with a billion-dollar film, according to the outlet.
With the film unlocking the record just a little over two weeks after it hit theaters, it is now the fastest Warner Bros. release (and eighth in the studio’s 100-year history) to reach the coveted $1 billion level. Before it, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” held that record of 19 days.
Last month, Robbie, who is also a producer on the film, revealed to Collider that she thought she was “overselling” “Barbie” when she pitched it to executives. At one point, she even compared its potential performance to the behemoth franchise “Jurassic Park.”
“I think my pitch in the green-light meeting was the studios have prospered so much when they’re brave enough to pair a big idea with a visionary director,” she said of Gerwig helming the film.
She added: “And then I gave a series of examples like, ‘dinosaurs and [Steven] Spielberg,’ that and that, that and that — pretty much naming anything that’s been incredible and made a ton of money for the studios over the years. And I was like, ‘And now you’ve got Barbie and Greta Gerwig.’ And I think I told them that it’d make a billion dollars, which maybe I was overselling, but we had a movie to make, OK?!”
The theater isn’t the only place “Barbie” has swept the nation. The film based on the iconic Mattel doll has sparked thousands of memes and viral TikTok videos since its release. It’s even ended a few relationships (don’t worry, just the toxic ones).
“Barbie,” which also stars Ryan Gosling, Will Ferrell, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt and Simu Liu, is now playing in theaters.