Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” had the biggest opening weekend of any film this year, but it has also found itself neck-deep in the culture wars.
Judging by audience polls, the film is being wonderfully received – it got an A CinemaScore, and PostTrak exit polls give it an 89% positive reaction/75% must-see recommendation. Its box office has exceeded all expectations, and its second-weekend drop is looking to be standard, if not small, for a film of this size.
Nonetheless, it has also become the target of some conservative backlash. Ben Shapiro’s review went viral, posting a video of himself setting Barbie dolls on fire while railing against the movie, whilst podcaster Matt Walsh has called it “the most aggressively anti-man, feminist propaganda fest ever put to film.”
Recently Gerwig was asked by The New York Times if she anticipated how angry the film would make some conservatives. She says:
“No, I didn’t. Certainly, there’s a lot of passion. My hope for the movie is that it’s an invitation for everybody to be part of the party and let go of the things that aren’t necessarily serving us as either women or men. I hope that in all of that passion, if they see it or engage with it, it can give them some of the relief that it gave other people.”
In fact, she finds it rather amazing that most people seem to be warmly responding to the film exactly as intended is something special:
“I wanted to make something anarchic and wild and funny and cathartic. The idea that it’s actually being received that way, it’s sort of extraordinary.”
Conversations around the film are already turning towards a potential sequel with Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz telling Variety that “Barbie” lends itself to building out a franchise:
“Barbie, as a brand, has many different iterations. The product lines of Barbie is a very broad brand. In addition to the main Barbie figure, she has family. She has a lot of elements around in her universe. It’s a very rich universe… It’s a very broad and very elastic brand in terms of opportunities.
At the outset, we’re not saying, ‘Okay, let’s think already about movies two and three.’ Let’s get the first one right and make that a success. And if you do that, opportunities open up very quickly once you establish the first movie as a successful representation of a franchise on the big screen. Successful movies lend themselves to more movies. Our ambition is to create film franchises.”
The “Barbie” movie is now out in cinemas everywhere and currently has topped $470 million globally in less than a week.
