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While fans and enthusiasts of the film industry might have suspected that Barbie would take the world by storm, it seems to be outperforming everyone’s financial expectations. The movie was released on July 21, 2023, and it has made over $800 million in just two weeks. It’s not close to earning the top spot on the highest-grossing films list, which is taken by Avatar with close to $3 billion. But could Barbie earn enough money at the box office to be the highest-grossing movie of 2023?
Will Barbie Be the Highest-Grossing Movie of the Year?
It is likely that the highest-grossing movie of 2023 will end up being Barbie. In fact, there is a good chance that by the time you are reading this, it will have already taken the spot of the second highest-grossing movie of the year. This would mean that at the start of its third week in theaters, it would be behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which is sitting at $1.351 billion. In case you are wondering, the second spot at the time of this writing is occupied by Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which has made $845 million.
So, to beat The Super Mario Bros. Movie, as of writing, Barbie would need to earn $528 million more. Considering it made $356 million in its worldwide opening weekend, Barbie could make this amount in 2-3 weeks, and become the highest-grossing movie of the year. A streaming debut could take the legs out of the film, but it looks like Barbie might not be coming to Max until the Fall, so it’s got at least a month to make up the difference. It’s guesswork whether it will manage to get there in the end, because most people who want to see it could have already seen it in the last two weeks, as sessions were certainly selling out.
What Else Might Beat The Super Mario Bros. Movie at the Box Office?
There are plenty of movies that are still set to come out from now until the end of the year that might give Barbie and The Super Mario Bros. Movie a run for their money. Wonka, Wish, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, The Marvels, The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, and Dune: Part Two are all set to release this year, and they all have some big box office potential. But all of the franchise movies on the list would have to outgross their previous entries to take the top spot.
That leaves Wish, which as a Disney animated film, has a decent shot at taking the crown. For it to overtake The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Wish would have to beat Frozen and come close to beating Frozen II, so it does seem unlikely. But who knows – it could have a great story and some earworm songs that manage to push it over the line. As for now, it seems like either The Super Mario Bros. Movie or Barbie will be taking the top spot by the end of the year.
