As a producer of Barbie, it was up to Margot Robbie to convince a studio that her vision for the film would lead to financial success. No wonder the Oscar nominee flat out said during pitch meetings that she believed a Barbie movie could bring in $1 billion at the worldwide box office. Such success depended on landing writer-director Greta Gerwig, Robbie stressed to execs.
I think my pitch in the green-light meeting was the studios have prospered so much when theyre brave enough to pair a big idea with a visionary director, Robbie said in an interview with Collider. And then I gave a series of examples like, dinosaurs and [Steven] Spielberg pretty much naming anything thats been incredible and made a ton of money for the studios over the years. And I was like, And now youve got Barbie and Greta Gerwig. And I think I told them that itd make a billion dollars, which maybe I was overselling, but we had a movie to make, okay?
Whether Barbie makes $1 billion for Warner Bros. remains to be seen, but its already shaping up to be a blockbuster for the studio. The film is tracking for an opening weekend in the $95 million to $110 millionrange, with some exhibitors believing the comedy could make as much as $140 million in its debut. Warner Bros. is launching Barbie in 4,200 North American theaters over the weekend.
Gerwig signed on to direct Barbie and to co-write it with Noah Baumbach. The hire paid off for the films cast, especially Ryan Gosling.
Greta, shes just such a brilliant person and such an inclusive person, Gosling told Collider. Shes brilliant but incapable of being pretentious. I think what I admire so much about her work is that she doesnt allow herself to create a divide between drama and comedy, and she encourages everyone around her to do the same. So you end up mining places that are in the in-between and it feels very specific to her, but also something that you can relate to because its more like life.
Barbie opens nationwide on July 21.