This past weekend saw Barbie cross the billion dollar mark at the global box office. That's remarkable for a few reasons. It's the first movie solely directed by a woman to reach that threshold. It isn't a sequel. And, in addition to being directed by a woman, it was co-written by a woman, produced by a woman, and mostly stars women.
As significant as all those distinctions are, the biggest difference between it and most of the movies that have also grossed one billion dollars or more is that it isn't an action movie. It's a comedy, through and through. The closest Barbie gets to action is its foot chase through Mattel, and when we compare it to most of the top 20 highest grossing movies of all time, every single one has a greater emphasis on action. That's true of the Avatars, the Avengers, the Jurassic Worlds, and the Star Wars that populate the top 20, but it also applies to the movies targeting a female audience. Titanic, Frozen, and Frozen 2 aren't action movies per se, but each is more action-packed than Barbie.
That seems like a good sign to me, a guy who is always worried that the theatrical comedy is essentially dead. Over the past decade, Hollywood has largely given up on putting comedies in theaters and the genres' biggest stars like Adam Sandler, Kevin Hart, and Will Ferrell have mostly taken their talents to streaming. Studios haven't prioritized releasing comedies in theaters because, by and large, they don't tend to do especially well overseas. Action franchises, like The Fast and the Furious, Mission: Impossible, MCU, and DC flicks, tend to appeal more to a global audience than comedies which rely on cultural specificity for jokes to land.
The thing is, Barbie is making significantly more money than Fast X, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, The Flash, and even the year's highest grossing superhero movie (so far) Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. That a straight comedy is doing those numbers is remarkable, even if it is IP-driven.
There are smaller successes that give reasons to be hopeful, too. No Hard Feelings, Gene Stupnitsky's sex comedy starring Jennifer Lawrence, is the highest grossing R-rated comedy since pre-COVID times. It's made $85.1 million so far, proving to be surprisingly durable in a summer filled with would-be blockbusters. It cost $45 million to make, so it isn't a gigantic hit, but it is the strongest performance this kind of movie has had in this decade.
Similarly, Asteroid City scored the best opening weekend ever for a Wes Anderson film. It did good, not great, at the box office, earning $47.4 million on a $25 million budget. Like No Hard Feelings, it was competing against a bunch of bigger movies, and still managed to do fairly well, especially considering that the film is more structurally alienating than most of Anderson's work (and that it became available on VOD less than three weeks after its wide release). Both of these movies are working from original scripts which points to a better path forward.
There are still plenty of flops to make studio's wary. 2023's Joy Ride, The Machine, About My Father, Champions, and House Party didn't enjoy much success, and last year's Bros was a high profile flop. But, the success of Barbie and Oppenheimer and the underperformance of many of this year's safe bets points to changing audience tastes. My bet? They're ready for something that tastes funny.