The female director made history with the box office success of 'Barbie.'
Greta Gerwig is making history!
Three weeks after its debut in theaters, Barbie has surpassed $1 billion at the box office, making Gerwig the first female director to hit this box office milestone as a solo director.
In a statement, Warner Bros. said the fantasy-comedy movie has taken in $459 million from domestic theaters - counting the United States and Canada - and another $572.1 million overseas since it hit theaters, for a total of $1.0315 billion. The figure was confirmed by media analytics firm Comscore.
"As distribution chiefs, we're not often rendered speechless by a film's performance, but Barbillion has blown even our most optimistic predictions out of the water," Jeff Goldstein, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. Pictures, and Andrew Cripps, president of international distribution, said in a statement.
The 40-year-old joins a small group of people who have the sole directing credit on a billion-dollar movie in Hollywood's history. She now holds the box office record for women directors, which Patty Jenkins last set with "Wonder Woman" in 2017. That film raked in more than $800 million.
During the opening weekend of the feminist film, Gerwig broke another record – the biggest opening weekend for a women director, according to Fandango managing editor Erik Davis.
The film is being widely hailed as a feminist masterpiece and a celebration of women, and the story surrounds the representation of women and men in media, gender roles in society and personal autonomy.
On Friday, the Barbie director celebrated her 40th birthday. What she thought was just a simple Pilates class, turned into something special thanks to Barbie star Ryan Gosling.
"As Kens know…. Sometimes the only way to express your feelings is through song & dance!
Ken Ryan sent these special Barbies and Kens to start Greta’s birthday with all the feelings! @bookaflashmob @heymarkavery 📷 @christinecrais," the caption next to the video posted on the official Barbie Instagram account Saturday read.
In the clip, the Lady Bird director is sitting on a reformer machine as a group of Kens enter the room and begin to perform the "I'm Just Ken" dance number -- which was sung by Gosling in the film. As the group starts to dance, the director can be heard saying, "Oh my God."
Just when it looked like it was over, Dua Lipa's "Dance the Night" begins to play as a group of Barbies arrive in the room and begin the group dance number from the film.
At the end of the special gift, the birthday girl claps in approval.
Ahead of her birthday, Gerwig has been enjoying the success of the record-breaking film starring Margot Robbie and Gosling. On Thursday, Gosling (Ken) had a reason to celebrate as his song from the film landed him his first Billboard Hot 100 entry.
In this week's ranking, the 42-year-old actor landed himself in the 87th position with his song, "I'm Just Ken," from the Barbie soundtrack. The ballad, performed by Gosling, also found itself at number 4 on the Hot Rock Songs, number 5 on the Hot Rock and Alternative Songs and number 39 on the Digital Song Sales charts. Gosling's song is part of Barbie: The Album.
Last month, during the film's premiere, Gerwig dished to ET about the excitement surrounding the release and her 40th birthday.
"On Aug. 4th, I turn 40," she told ET with a laugh, "and this movie's out. So I'm like, I gotta turn 40 and get this movie out, and then I'll figure out what happens next."
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