'Barbie' ticket sales cross $1 billion mark, creates record for solo female director Greta Gerwig

Warner Bros. Pictures announced on Sunday that their film Barbie has ticked $1 billion in box office ticket sales worldwide since its release on July 21. 

Warner Bros. Pictures is a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery.

In a statement, Warner Bros. said the fantasy-comedy movie has taken in $459 million from domestic theatres - counting the United States and Canada - and another $572.1 million overseas since it hit theatres, for a total of $1.0315 billion, reported the news agency Reuters.

With this achievement of Barbie, the movie’s writer and director, Greta Gerwig, added another feather to her cap of becoming the first female filmmaker to surpass the billion-dollar benchmark as a solo director.

Greta Gerwig also became the first female filmmaker to surpass the billion-dollar benchmark as a solo director, the Hollywood studio said in a statement.

This was Barbie’s third weekend in the theatres. The film collected $127 million worldwide this weekend, with $53 million in domestic receipts and another $74 million overseas, reported Reuters.

"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.

Starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, the movie sends the iconic doll on an adventure into the real world. The film follows Barbie as she discovers the joys and hardships of living in a human world.

The movie also features America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, Will Ferrell, Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Dua Lipa, and Helen Mirren.

Barbie ticket sales rank second this year to The Super Mario Bros, released in April and raked in a total of $1.357 billion at the box office.

(With Reuters inputs)