‘Barbie’ smashes box office record previously held by Marvel’s ‘The Avengers’

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer On the heels of the record-breaking performance of “Barbie,” veteran film executive Robbie Brenner has been elevated to president of Mattel Films. Brenner moves up from her role as executive producer at Mattel, the longstanding toy company that’s spent years switching focus to original content based on its intellectual property under CEO Ynon Kreiz.

Following the massive success of its live-action Barbie, Mattel Films has tapped Robbie Brenner as President. She had been Executive Producer of Mattel Films since 2018.

Barbie” movie has inspired a cultural phenomenon, contributing to a pink paint shortage and inspiring a fabulously feminine fashion trend, dubbed “Barbiecore.”More than just an aesthetic fad, the Greta Gerwig-directed flick, starring Margot Robbie as the titular Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, has also sparked conversations around mental health and the power of nostalgia.Since the film’s release, Barbie doll sales have reportedly spiked — much of which could be thanks to adult viewers on a search for their “emotional support Barbies,” reported CNN on Tuesday.Recently, adults on social media have shared their newly purchased Mattel dolls, touting the toy in a bid to reconnect with their childhood, reported CNN on Tuesday.The hashtag emotionalsupportbarbie has more than 1.9 million views on TikTok, featuring videos of girls and women — and even men — buying Barbies that look like them, represent their careers or inspire them to be their authentic selves.Many TikTok users in the comments section of these posts rued on the impact of their own emotional support Barbies, as well as other beloved dolls.“My daughter bought me an American girl doll because I never had one as a child. It definitely heals something,” one person wrote.“My parents couldn’t afford to buy me a Barbie.

Merrily We Roll Along, the new Broadway revival of the Sondheim classic musical starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff and Lindsay Mendez, broke the six-performance house record at the Hudson Theatre with a $1.3 million gross in its first week of previews.

Greta Gerwig could “not stop laughing” at a deleted scene from Barbie with Michael Cera.The film’s cinematographer, Rodrigo Prieto, said he shot “many scenes” for the film that “didn’t end up in the movie”, including one that was inspired by Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. The scene was so funny that Gerwig, who directed the film, “could not stop laughing” at the scene that involved Cera, who played Ken’s friend Allan in the film.Speaking to Variety, Prieto said: “We did this shot on Allan that emulated Jaws. He’s terrified [when] Ken hits a wave and then flies in the air.

A revealing audio clip of star Ben Affleck from the DVD commentary of the 1998 summer blockbuster has gone viral, like it does every so often, and listeners are again shocked by the actor’s frank admissions. On the track, Affleck says fiery director Michael Bay told him to “shut the f—k up” when he started asking too many questions about the disaster film’s implausible plot.“I asked Michael why it was easier to train oil drillers to become astronauts than it was to train astronauts to become oil drillers, and he told me to shut the f—k up,” said Affleck, who was just 25 years old when “Armageddon” hit theaters.“’You know, Ben, just shut up, OK? You know, this is a real plan,’” Affleck, now 51, recalled Bay saying.

A trio of new shows joined Broadway last week to mostly decent box office figures as the fall season begins to take shape.

.Swift has officially entered her Autumn In New York era, wearing a simple black slip dress, boots, and a rather professorial tweed fall coat. The coat and dress's minimalist silhouettes, the high-heeled Louboutins, the black handle bag, as well as Swift's signature cat-eye-red-lip-curtain-bangs glam all lent the look a certain '60s mod vibe, which I personally dig.Once again, the singer-songwriter was photographed going out to dinner alongside a slew of her A-lister friends.

Barbie‘s still big!

Margot Robbie has joined her fellow actors at the picket line in show of her support for the SAG-AFTRA strikes in LA.The Barbie star took part in the SAG-AFTRA rally from Netflix Studios to Paramount Studios on Wednesday (August 13). She was seen wearing an oversized t-shirt which read: “SAG-AFTRA ON STRIKE!,” and also held up a black, white and yellow sign with the same message.READ MORE: Hollywood on strike! Every question about the actor and writer protests answeredSpotted directly behind Robbie at the rally was fellow Australian actress Samara Weaving, who was holding the same sign.The SAG-AFTRA union, which consists of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, announced its strike in July after contract negotiations broke down with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP), who represent major studios like Netflix, Disney, Apple, Amazon, Warner Bros.

Barbie star Margot Robbie has opened up about the inspiration behind Kate McKinnon’s Weird Barbie.McKinnon’s zanily dressed character was one of the many iterations of the doll seen in the Greta Gerwig satirical comedy, which recently became the highest-grossing film of 2023.In a new featurette for the film (via Entertainment Weekly), Robbie provided some background detail on the character, noting that she was partly inspired by David Bowie.“Greta described Weird Barbie in the script as a cross between David Bowie and a hairless cat,” she said. “It is so strangely accurate.”Gerwig added: “Weird Barbie is truly the Barbie you’d play with too much.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent “The Eternal Memory,” Chilean documentarian Maite Alberdi’s follow-up to the Oscar-nominated “The Mole Agent,” is smashing box office records in Chile. Bowing Thursday Aug. 24 in 70 theaters and shooting straight to No.

Barbie to contribute over $125million (£100million) in gross billings to the company this year.Anthony DiSilvestro, chief financial officer at Mattel, shared the number during the Goldman Sachs media conference on Thursday (September 7). The figure includes direct movie participation and sales of toys and consumer products.“Our economics are a function of the revenue, as well as profit participation, which scales up with the success of the movie,” DiSilvestro said (via Deadline).According to The New York Times, Mattel earned five per cent of the film’s box office revenue, as well as a portion of the overall profits as a producer on the movie, and additional payments as owner of the Barbie IP.Barbie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, has become the highest-grossing film of 2023, crossing the $1.4billion mark at the global box office.As a result of the film’s success, Mattel is planning a slew of movie projects based on the company’s IP, including Polly Pocket by Lena Dunham, a Hot Wheels film from J.J.

Refresh for latest…: There’s a lot to unpack this weekend at the international box office, including a flying start for Warner Bros/New Line’s The Nun II, Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan continuing to outdo himself and a major milestone afoot for Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Meanwhile, Barbie has danced past $1.4B worldwide.

Margot Robbie is having a fun day out.

Naman Ramachandran Shah Rukh Khan’s action thriller “Jawan” has shattered the star’s own Bollywood opening day record. “Jawan” is produced by Gauri Khan and Gaurav Verma for Red Chillies Entertainment. It opened on Thursday and its Hindi-language version grossed $9.4 million in India, with a further $1.3 million from Tamil and Telugu-language dubbed versions, according to numbers provided to Variety by Red Chillies.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “No More Bets,” the smash hit Chinese crime thriller that has earned more than half a billion dollars in its home market, is hurriedly adding new territories to release. It will release in the U.K. and Ireland from Friday through distributor Trinity Cine Asia.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director A new article from The New York Times on how the “Barbie” movie’s success will pay off for Mattel reveals that executives at the company were first treated to a 147-page script for the film. The screenplay by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach would be shaped into a 114 minute film. Mattel Films head Robbie Brenner was the first exec to read the script.

Lea Michele treated the final-night audience of Broadway’s Funny Girl to an extra song Sunday, performing “My Man,” popularized by Fanny Brice in 1921 but not included in the musical’s original score.

Naman Ramachandran Sony’s “The Equalizer 3” has finally toppled the six-week reign of “Barbie” atop the U.K. and Ireland box office. Antoine Fuqua’s action thriller, headlined by Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning, debuted with £2.7 million ($3.4 million), per numbers from Comscore.