‘Barbie’ has legs: Greta Gerwig’s film tops box office again and gives industry a midsummer surge
Associated PressLOS ANGELES — “Barbie” has legs. The week’s only major wide release, Universal’s “The Last Voyage of the Demeter,” finished fifth with a $6.5 million opening weekend. Its $526.3 million domestic total and $1.18 billion global bankroll currently sits second behind “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” which earned $574.2 million North America, and $1.358 billion globally in the spring. It’s also the second-highest grossing film in the history of “Warner Bros.,” behind only 2011’s “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2.” The sustained performance of the Mattel movie continues to flip the script on what had been a weak year in theaters, with major sequels underperforming including “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part I,” which remained in the top 10 this week with $4.7 million. “If you think of what ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ together — just those two movies — have contributed in these weekends at the box office, it’s really a staggering number,” Dergarabedian said.