Barbie broke records with a $155 million box office opening over the weekend, and has had the largest movie opening since the pandemic. After breaking the expectations, Barbie has now had the best US opening for a female-directed movie.
What a win for not only Barbie, but for female directors and producers nationwide. Although getting backlash for being ‘overly feminist” and “painfully funny”, the Barbie movie has clearly broken expectations and financial projections.
But How Is This A Win?
I previously watched The Idol, a series starring Lily-Rose Depp and Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd). It’s received major criticism and controversy for having seemingly unnecessary sexually explicit and abusive scenes, and was redirected by Abel Tesfaye and Sam Levinson after female-director Amy Seimetz directed and filmed a majority of its original version.
When viewers of The Idol became aware of this, given the show’s controversy, social media sparked with images of what the female-directed version of the show could have looked like, and how they’d rather see that version instead.
Whether Amy Seimetz voluntarily left the project or not, it’s important that female directors and perspectives are shown in Hollywood and the entertainment industry in general. Women taking on leadership roles in entertainment and art can have a huge impact on the future of women in the industry, all the way down to the Barbie viewers watching at home.
