Barbie has achieved a major milestone earlier this week. After Super Mario Bros, the film became the second movie of 2023 to cross the billion dollar mark at the global box office. Barbie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in the lead, also shows no signs of slowing down despite the tough competition of the same day release of Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. It also earns the distinction of being the highest grossing film directed by a female director, and also the first film to be a directed by a female director that grossed more than a billion dollars at the global box office. Barbie Movie Review: Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling Excel in This Relevant Satire Filled with Hilarious Meta Commentary.
Oh, wait! We forgot to add one thing in the last line - 'solo'. For Barbie is not the only film that was directed by a female director to make billion dollars at the box office. Three other films did the same, and they also had female protagonists in the lead.
The catch is, they aren't solo-directed films by a woman. There were two directors involved in each film and the other being a male.
So we have Frozen ($1.285 billion) and its sequel Frozen II ($1.453 billion) that were director by the same pair - Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee. Lee didn't direct any other movies apart from these, though she was involved as an executive producer with films like Raya and the Last Dragon, Encanto, Strange World and Wish.
The third film is from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The 2019's Captain Marvel was directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck and had earned $1.131 billion at the box office. Together, the director duo had made five films together including the upcoming Freaky Tales; however, Anna Boden hasn't directed a solo film yet, whole Ryan had made Half-Nelson that had starred another Ryan - Gosling. Barbie Crosses $1 Billion Globally! 5 Major Box Office Records Smashed by Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling's Film Helmed by Greta Gerwig.
Now Greta Gerwig has done the deed solo at that, here's hoping that we will get to see more films made by female directors to dominate at the box office, earning billion dollars. Cinema needs more girl power!
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 07, 2023 03:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).