July 21, 2023. Same day as Nolan's Oppenheimer LOL

This will be getting a ton of press and attention because of its cast, looking forward to a trailer. With Gerwig directing I think this will do extremely well.

No idea what the tone of the film is, or its plot or anything beyond the cast. Is it a comedy, a drama? Does it really have anything to do with the Barbie brand or is it a completely original story that they're just exploiting the Barbie brand to promote?

$100m OW
$300m Dom
$600m WW

Barbie Girl by Aqua is #1 on Billboard 26 years AFTER it's release

Think this will probably be in the same vein of Legally Blonde, a female empowerment despite early impressions type angle of how they may position the Barbie Movie to seem relevant to today's audiences.

Legally Blonde 3 is also coming out this year but my hunch is they are going that angle. Appeals enough to families as well to pull in Barbie audience but also appeals to older generations.

Ooo, I love this cast and with that director/writer it could be a Best Picture nominee. Much better than an Amy Schumer thing.

Entirely depends on the trailer tbh. Based on Gerwig directing it will probably be an ironic, artiser take on the idea of 'Barbie'. Not sure what the audience for that is. I also think Margot, who is allegedly 31 but looks mid/late 30s, is probably a bit too old to be playing this role. This needed someone like Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde age.

If they go all out on the rah-rah female empowerment, preachiness angle it may underwhelm.

Barbie teaser just came out.

I really don't know about this one. It looks so campy it could work but could also be an epic disaster.

Mattel should have just mended ties with Aqua. So many millennials would love seeing that song come on this teaser.

Definitely see curiosity factor and brand will help but also has a tad bit of pretentiousness with 2001 Space Odyssey homage. As long as its just mindless fun will do well.

Will do $100M but can't yet see this shows megabreakout.

I liked the teaser, I just feel like the character is going to feel like Robbie rather than Barbie

Looks rubbish. I sense a flop. The 2001 spoof really isn't the right way to market a Barbie movie.

The other challenge here is they need to make it family friendly enough which is where the real $ is. If they make it too satire where kids find it boring won't help it make a lot.

However, most of the actors including Gosling have said it's the best script they've ever read so could be a dark horse surprise. If it's just a really well reviewed film that finds a good balance between young and old it's a winner.

Every actor says that about their latest project.

Director's last two movies Lady Bird and Little Women getting 2 Oscar nominations for screenplay in the last 5 years though is a good track record. On story, I doubt she'd get involved if the story was garbage so I might believe the actors this time. I can't imagine Gosling would do a Barbie movie if the script was bad. He can probably do any movie he wants and has veered away from the big paycheck drive in a lot of his choices.

Agreed. Terrible decision using 2001 in the teaser.

They won’t know how to position this film and audiences will feel the same. Too campy. Unless the proper trailer sets things straight I’m expecting this to flop.

I think it looks different and can see this breakout to the tune of a top 20 film next year.

Margot is getting PANNED for Babylon. No Best Actress Oscar for her this year.

I still think she's too old to play Barbie. Ryan Gosling, who is looking quite botox'd these days, also looks ridiculous playing Ken. I'm sure the film will be good because Greta Gerwig never misses and it looks too ridiculous not to have a great story and script anchoring the thing, but I'm not sure referencing 2001 was the right move. Such a reference implies they're going for the cinephile hipster crowd, but will they want to watch a bright colorful movie called Barbie, even if it's a sly ironic "commentary" piece? It still means sitting through two hours of Margot Robbie and two pounds of make-up prancing around in small dresses.

I think it'll be a good weekend at the box office with this and Oppenheimer opening. Unless this is horrible (... it won't be I feel) it should open to $30m+. The hype is there. No if that's just online hype we'll see.

I haven't noticed her getting panned. Reviews are just barely good enough to get it nominations. It's this year's Vice or Don't Look Up. A movie with a big cast but mediocre reviews that comes out at the end of the year and gets nominated while it's still hot. This is a love it or hate it movie from the sound of it but those that love it REALLY love it and their passion should carry it to several nominations.

I won't complain if another performance gets in over Robbie though. But I really don't see anyone coming close to being strong enough to get that fifth slot.

I wonder if it's too late to change the title to ROBBIE.

I'm cringing at the idea of this and Babylon both being bombs. Robbie box office poison run would be an all timer.

Mattel is heavily involved on this one. I can't imagine they won't make lots of $$$ from merchandise, experiences, etc. tied to a Barbie movie. Though it has a $100M budget. Gosling/Robbie are both getting $12.5M for it so $75M on the movie itself.

It will look bad for her if it flops but really the Barbie machine should still get out of it OK. This isn't anything new though. Birds of Prey underwhelmed expectations. TSS disappointed. Amsterdam. Babylon. Barbie. She can thank Tarantino for Once Upon A Time but realistically I feel that role could have been played by many other actresses.

It seems to me the "smart" gameplan for many modern day actors is a) Make Oscar nominated films with proven directors to keep your street cred strong as a good actor b) Take a populist franchise film to keep your name big with the public c) Use that juice to get cast in more Oscar nominated roles, and so on. People like ScarJo, JLaw, Driver, Larson, Ruffalo, etc. have all mixed superhero/Star Wars/Hunger Games/etc. and Oscar nomination roles, sometimes in the same year. Robbie has her franchise character in Harley Quinn, but they've flopped, and her directors like David O Russell and Chazelle, but it looks like it didn't work. Maybe if too many people are trying to do the same big/small thing, they can't all succeed and some have to take the scraps, and some should consider whether there's an opportunity in middle level films. I would have rather seen JLaw make some Sandra Bullock style mid/mainstream films the last 6 years than just making mother-Red Sparrow-Dark Phoenix-Don't Look Up-Causeway.

Mending ties and using "Barbie Girl" in future promos would add $50M to this. I can't think of another movie that has ever matched a pre-existing song like this one.

I think both will flop. The Oppenheimer trailer desperately tries to make it look like an action packed extravaganza but really it's going to be a 3hr movie about people sitting in a room doing math and experiments.