Barbie: Biggest Debut Ever for Female Director

Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ has dominated the box office, pulling in $155 million domestically over its first weekend, which makes it the leading debut for a female director. That same weekend, Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ also hit the big screens, raking in some $80.5 million. Together they have been named ‘Barbenheimer’ and are the fourth highest-grossing movie weekends ever in the United States, as well as the largest overall box office weekend since the pandemic.

The following chart uses data from Box Office Mojo to show the movies with the highest box office revenues for their opening weekend that were directed by a woman. Prior to ‘Barbie’, the record had been held by Captain Marvel, which was co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. Meanwhile, Wonder Woman, released in 2017, was the previous champion of the title for a movie solely directed by a woman.

Animation and superhero movies tend to rank well in both this list as well as the overall roundup that includes male directors. According to Box Office Mojo, ‘Avengers: Endgame’ directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo saw the highest figures ever for its opening weekend, at $357 million, followed by ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’ directed by Jon Watts at $260 million.

The next three movies directed by women that didn’t quite make it onto the chart are Pitch Perfect II (2015) by Elizabeth Banks at $69 million, Frozen (2013) by Jennifer Lee & Chris Buck with $67 million and Brave (2013) by Brenda Chapman & Mark Andrews with $66 million.