'Barbie' Becomes Surprise Smash Hit in China

Barbie's world domination is going according to plan for Warner Bros., as they've seemingly been able to crack the tricky Chinese market.

Hollywood movies have underwhelmed at the Chinese box office recently, with major movies like Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One underperforming. Greta Gerwig's Barbie looked to be going the same way with a modest $8.1 million return during its opening July 21-23 weekend, placing it in fifth place in China.

However Barbie maintained its momentum during the week and took in $7.2 million in its second weekend. During its total run there Barbie has taken in $25.2 million, according to Box Office Mojo. The fact that the two weekend figures didn't drop by much was helped by the fact that it opened in more theaters across the week.

On opening weekend, Barbie was playing in 7,470 theaters but by the second weekend, it was playing in 8,747 cinemas.

Barbie has dominated domestically, beating out the likes of Oppenheimer, Sound of Freedom and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny at the box office, taking in $366,422,042 in North America alone since its release on July 21. At the worldwide box office, Barbie has made $795,722,042 and is on course to break a billion to become the biggest movie of 2023.

During its first weekend, Barbie made less money in China than local movies like Creation of the Gods I: Kingdom of Storms, Chang An and Never Say Never, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Positive ratings from Chinese movie apps helped Barbie grow in popularity. The Margot Robbie-fronted film got 8.6 on Douban, 9.3 on Tao Piao Piao and 9.4 on Maoyan.

Barbie may be viewed favorably in China for the same reason it was banned in Vietnam. Before the movie's release, Barbie surprisingly was the subject of political and territorial tensions after a map in a scene depicted the South China Sea.

In a brief clip seen in the trailer, Barbie (Robbie) stood in front of a crudely drawn map which allegedly showed the nine-dash line, which is the markings set out by China in the South China Sea. Both China and Vietnam claim some islands in the South China Sea as their own, and they have long been the subject of dispute between the countries.

State media in Vietnam reported that Vi Kien Thanh, the head of the Vietnam Cinema Department, confirmed Barbie's ban in July due to "the illegal image of the 'cow's tongue line' in the film." The "cow's tongue line" is a Vietnamese phrase for the Nine-Dash-Line.

While other movies made significantly more than than Barbie in the massive market of China, Barbie could be set to hold its steady popularity.

Some other big budget Hollywood blockbusters that have performed well in China in 2023 include Avatar: The Way of Water, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Fast X. Comparatively, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, Mission: Impossible—Dead Reckoning Part One and even The Super Mario Brothers Movie have somewhat underperformed.