Video Credit: Barbie Main Trailer by Warner Bros. Pictures
As you are aware, the Barbie movie broke numerous world records. I started researching this movie further after watching it with my family in the neighboring Theatre Hall and learned a lot of fascinating stuff. Here are a few of those:
Image Credit: barbie-6349920_640_Pixabay
American entrepreneur Ruth Handler created the doll and named it after her daughter Barbara, and American toy manufacturing and entertainment company Mattel manufactured it. In the movie, Barbie, who was fantasized to cross the boundary to become a real human being,
2. The first live-action Barbie film:
Image Credit: Barbie Preview by YouTube Movies.
After a number of computer-animated films, this is the first live-action Barbie film to make a mark as a toy-based live-action movie with a clear difference.
3. The concept emerged long ago.
Around the middle of the 1980s, the concept for a live-action Barbie movie first emerged.
4. The first announcement of a Barbie movie was in September 2009.
Universal Pictures first announced a live-action Barbie movie in September 2009, with Laurence Mark serving as producer.
5. The film rights to Barbie were transferred many times.
After Sony Pictures purchased the film rights in April 2014, the movie’s development got underway. In October 2018, Warner Bros. Pictures eventually received the rights.
6. Multiple contenders for the Barbie role:
Image Credit: Barbie Preview by YouTube Movies.
Anne Hathaway and Amy Schumer were also candidates to portray Barbie. Before she withdrew, comedian Amy Schumer was genuinely involved in the cast. Anne Hathaway was also asked to play the lead Barbie role, but she declined before the film made any real forward. Before Margot Robbie was finally hired, those two actresses were close to playing Barbie, but it would have radically changed the film.
7. Barbie is the top grossing movie.
Image Credit: Barbie Preview by YouTube Movies.
“Barbie” is the top-grossing movie of 2023, the highest-grossing movie directed by a single woman, the highest-grossing movie ever distributed by Warner Bros., and the 14th-highest-grossing movie of all time.
8. Barbie's prominent filming site:
Image Credit: Barbie Preview by YouTube Movies.
The Venice Beach Skatepark in Los Angeles, California, was one of the movie “Barbie”‘s prominent filming sites.
9. Barbie's marketing spending:
Warner Bros. spent $150 million on Barbie’s marketing, more than its $145 million production budget.
10. Issues covered:
Through a journey to Barbieland, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie examines issues of feminism, identity, and gender inequity.
11. Many Barbie dolls were included in the movie.
There are many other Barbie dolls included in the Barbie movie, including stereotypical Barbie, weird Barbie, and various real and made-up dolls.
12. Film's costume design:
Image Credit: Barbie Preview by YouTube Movies.
Jacqueline Durran, who is in charge of the film’s costume design team, is a two-time Oscar winner.
13. Film's production design:
Sarah Greenwood, who is in charge of the film’s costume production team, is a six-time Oscar nominee.
14. Film's cinematography department:
Rodrigo Prieto, who is the head of the cinematography department, is a three-time Oscar nominee.
15. Rebuilding decade-long Barbies for the film:
Director Greta Gerwig and her team rebuilt a number of Barbies from across her decades-long existence, gave them various outfits and haircuts, and put them in immaculate fantasy homes.
16. Director Greta Gerwig co-wrote the screenplay.
The rambling and introspective screenplay for the movie was co-written by Greta Gerwig and her partner Noah Baumbach, who received a Best Picture nomination for Marriage Story,
17. The film's opening day and first weekend's revenues:
The opening-day box office for the Barbie movie was $70.5 million. And the film had the most opening weekend revenue with $162 million and had the biggest debut of any toy-based movie.
18. Oppenheimer movie release date was a co-incidence :
Christopher Nolan’s superhit historical epic Oppenheimer was released the exact same day when Barbie was released.
19. The grossing records set by the Barbie movie:
Barbie broke both the home record formerly held by Home Alone (1990) and the global record previously held by The Hangover Part II (2011) to become the highest-grossing live-action comedy film of all time. On August 6, 2023, the movie passed the $1 billion mark globally, being the first picture by a single female director to do so. In addition, it took this movie less time than Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011) to reach the $1 billion mark. Barbie surpassed the previous record for both the highest-grossing movie by a single female filmmaker and for Warner Bros. in late August.
20. Banning of the movie:
Due to the Nine-Dash Line controversy, Barbie was banned in Vietnam. Although Warner Brothers defended the film, it is still prohibited in that country.
21.Effects of the childhood experience of the director with Barbie dolls:
Director Gerwig was affected by her experiences with Barbie as a child; although her mother initially forbade her from getting such dolls, she later gave in.
22. The Barbie movie's set design:
Image Credit: Barbie Preview by YouTube Movies.
Another noteworthy aspect of the Barbie movie’s set design is the extensive usage of Pantone 219, a particular hue of pink paint. The production of “Barbie” created a shortage of pink paint because the company had already experienced a global shortage as a result of COVID-19-related supply chain concerns and frozen temperatures harming stock. The set design for the movie consumed the company’s entire remaining supply of pink.
23. Use of 1950s filming techniques:
Since Barbie has been a popular toy since 1959, filmmaker Gerwig chose to use 1950s filming techniques in an effort to recreate a period-appropriate look.
24. Pink on Wednesdays:
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Margot Robbie wanted everyone on the set of Barbie to wear pink attire on Wednesdays. She wpould levy fine on those who would not. The money from the fine would be given to a good cause.
25. Mattel's long-forgotten dolls in the Barbie movie:
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“Barbie” makes reference to a lot of dolls that have been forgotten. While penning “Barbie,” Gerwig was obviously entranced with a few of Mattel’s long-forgotten dolls.
26. The oldest woman to get an Oscar:
The elder actress from “Barbie” changed Oscar history. In a pivotal moment from “Barbie,” Robbie’s doll compliments an elderly woman she meets at a bus stop in real life on her beauty. Ann Roth, a costume designer who has won an Oscar, is the woman in the scene. As the oldest woman to get an Oscar for costume design, she made history.
Interesting facts about the movie, I didn’t know it was banned. Loved it though!
Thank you, Yara.