‘Barbie’ creeps up on ‘John Wick’ as it skates past another box office milestone

John Wick should have his wits about him because he is about to be overtaken by the hit of the year. We all knew that Barbie would be hugely successful at the box office, and the prophesies are now coming true as it already holds the record for the biggest opening weekend this year so far. Now the doll is racing up behind the deadly assassin, probably in her rollerblades.

After only being in theatres for four days, Deadline reports that Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster surpassed the $400 million mark on Monday, giving Warner Bros. the best Monday they have ever seen from the overseas box office, raking in $32 million as well as their best domestic. Barbie finished Monday with a pretty $414.4 million globally.

Though the film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling was only released in theatres on July 21 (and has yet to be released in some markets like Japan), it is already in the top ten highest-earning films of 2023 according to Box Office Mojo, sitting in ninth place currently. The film has already overtaken other summer releases, such as Harrison Ford’s final outing as Indy in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, as well as the Disney animation Elemental and left DC flops The Flash and Shazam! Fury of the Gods in the dust.

Ahead, in eighth place, sits John Wick: Chapter 4, which earned $426.9 million globally when it left theatres. We shouldn’t be surprised if Barbie overtakes this in the next few days, but the film has some ways to knock the number one blockbuster of the year so far off its pedestal. That title currently goes to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which closed out its theatrical run with a grand total of $1.3 billion. Between them lie MCU films Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, as well as yet another installment in the Fast and Furious franchise, Fast X, and Disney’s live-action Little Mermaid.

Barbie has plenty of time, though, and with the hype only continuing, we are sure that more will turn up to watch one of the year’s most anticipated films. Also, we wouldn’t be surprised to see several repeat viewings based on how audiences react to the movie. Barbie‘s rival, Oppenheimer, is still slightly behind with $209.2 million globally.

You can catch Barbie and Oppenheimer in theaters now.