Barbie, starring Margot Robbie as the iconic titular doll and Ryan Gosling as counterpart Ken, continues to dominate the worldwide box office, where it has racked up an impressive $1.2 billion (around 26.5 billion crowns) over the past month. It might be doing even better at the Czech box office, where it just become the #1 movie of 2023 after topping weekend charts for four weeks straight.
While Barbie trails The Super Mario Bros. Movie at the 2023 box office both in the United States and worldwide, it became the Czech Republic’s most-seen and highest-grossing movie of 2023 over the past weekend, according to distributor Vertical Entertainment, which represents Warner Brothers on the local market.
Barbie has now pulled in 103.5 million crowns ($4.7 million) at the Czech box office, and it has been seen by 551,000 viewers, more than five percent of the country’s population. It passed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, which has grossed 87 million crowns ($3.95 million) as the country’s 2023 box office champ.
Director Greta Gerwig‘s film has also become Warner Brothers’ all-time highest-grossing movie in the Czech Republic, surpassing 2014’s The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies, which pulled in a total of 102.7 million crowns ($4.64 million).
Barbie is now the 15th highest-grossing movie of all-time at the Czech box office, and appears poised to enter the all-time top ten over the next few weeks. It needs another 20 million crowns (just under $1 million) to do so.
In the Czech Republic, Barbenheimer has indeed lived up to the 2023 box office hype. Director Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer has come in right behind Barbie at the Czech box office over the past four weeks, and now has amassed about 80 million crowns ($3.63 million) itself. It should also overtake Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 to become the #2 movie of 2023 at the Czech box office within the next week or so.
Without an Avatar sequel set for release this year, Barbie and Oppenheimer would seem likely to end the year in the top two positions at the 2023 Czech box office. The biggest blockbusters due out over the rest of the year include Dune: Part Two, The Marvels, Disney’s Wish and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, releasing in November, and Wonka and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom in December.
Barbie also has a good shot of overtaking The Super Mario Bros. Movie at the worldwide box office in the coming weeks to become the highest-grossing film of the year.
The biggest hit at Czechs cinemas this year also has some interesting Czech connections. Some of the glassware seen at Barbie’s dreamhouse in the movie comes from a Czech producer, and star Gosling compared the special effects in Barbie to innovative Czech filmmaker Karel Zeman. Gosling visited the Karel Zeman Museum in Prague while filming The Gray Man in the Czech capital back in 2021.
