'Barbie' tops 'The Dark Knight' to be Warner Bros.' highest grossing domestic film
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Barbie is now Warner Bros. Discovery's (NASDAQ:WBD) highest ever grossing domestic movie, topping $537M to overtake Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, which generated $536M in 2008.
The film, based on the iconic Mattel (MAT) doll, has collected over $1.2B at the global box office since its release last month, making it Warner Bros.' (WBD) second highest grossing movie worldwide after
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II.
Barbie is also this year's No. 2 film both domestically and internationally - only behind The Super Mario Bros. Movie (CMCSA) - and is the first film directed solely by a woman to gross more than $1B globally. 
Meanwhile, Nolan's Oppenheimer (CMCSA), which had its theatrical release at the same time as Barbie, grossed over $250M domestically.
"According to Placer.ai, foot traffic for theaters and music venues rose 29.5% last month," said Naveen Jaggi, president - retail advisory services, JLL. "This is no surprise considering Barbie and Oppenheimer were both released in July. After a tough stretch for movie theaters during the pandemic, consumers are returning to the big screen because there are options that interest all ages."
And Barbie is showing no signs of losing steam, as the Greta Gerwig-directed film appears on track to be the highest-grossing film of the year.
A major driver of its success has been Warner Bros.' (WBD) marketing power. "I believe the success of advertising the summer of Barbie is a nice preview to the power of this recently combined media conglomerate (Warner Media + Discover)," said SA analyst Andrew Dessy. 
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