“Come on, Barbie… let’s go party!” 2023 may very well have seemed like a non-stop celebration forGreta Gerwig. After all, the filmmaker turned 40 back in August. And she became the talk of Tinseltown after her latest movieBarbiedescended on theaters over the summer. Believe it or not, though, despite all the critical acclaim and positive audience response, Gerwig still hasn’t read any reviews for her bright-pink blockbuster. Gerwig said in an interview withVanity Fair:
I’ll probably sit down with a binder sometime in February. But right now it’s too fresh.
Fans embraced Gerwig’s big-screen adaptation of the famous Mattel doll, and their enthusiasm for the Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling-led project resulted in an impressive “A” CinemaScore. Further, the audience score on Rotten Tomatoes still sits at 83% with over 10,000+ ratings having been verified. The critics also showeredBarbiewith praise, as the ole Tomatometer reads 88%, at the time of this writing.
Gerwig must have an inkling of what fans and critics are saying, though, given the sheer amount of content that’s been published aboutBarbiesince it dropped in cinemas on July 21. The film opened the exact same day Christopher Nolan’sOppenheimerexploded on the scene. And despite the unexpectedBarbenheimerphenomenon that resulted from these two box office hits, Gerwig admits she didn’t see that coming. Gerwig also told Vanity Fair:
Chris Nolan is one of my heroes, a proper auteur. It was an odd pairing, but it’s kind of like a film festival where you watch three movies a day.
Barbie: 10 Actors Almost Cast in the Film
Barbie was the movie of the summer. Now that it’s available on digital, let’s look back at actors who were almost cast in Greta Gerwig’s film.
Greta Gerwig and the Barbie Phenomenon
Barbie’ssuccess with the fans and critics spilled over into the box office financials on a worldwide stage and in a staggering fashion. Gerwig’s film made a jaw-dropping $162 million in the United States during its first weekend of theatrical release. Heck, evenMargot Robbie saidBarbiewould make a billion dollars, and that’s way before the flick even dropped in cinemas. Still,Barbie’ssuccess didn’t sink in for Gerwig right away. Gerwig said in the same interview with Vanity Fair:
“God, when did it sort of kick in? I always had a hope that it would connect. I had a sense that it might. But Barbie doesn’t fit neatly into a preordained category. We had these hopeful-looking metrics, but no one knew what they meant. It wasn’t until the end of the second weekend that I thought, ‘Oh, this is going well.’ I mean, Wonder Woman was hugely successful, but superheroes exist in a different bubble.”
Today,Barbiehas made $1.44 billion globally in theaters. That number in itself should assure Gerwig that the reviews she’s destined to read are overwhelmingly positive. Regardless, Gerwig won’t delve into all the critiques until next year. Currently, she is incredibly busy with work.Gerwig is preparing Netflix’sChronicles of Narniamovies. Then, of course, there’s the possibility of aBarbiesequel. And Gerwig’s already gone on record saying she wants to return to Barbieland. But for now, Gerwig is focused onThe Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
