2023 will go down in history as the year of Barbenheimer. It’s practically impossible to not know about Barbie and Oppenheimer’s race at the box office, mostly due to social media hype around the two contrasting releases. In particular, Barbie’s viral marketing phenomenon has led people to wonder: did the movie’s marketing cost more than the actual budget? Surprisingly, the answer is yes. Let’s take a look at the numbers behind Barbie’s marketing budget, and how the titular pink doll successfully managed to take over the internet.
Barbie’s massive marketing budget explained
Alright, it’s time for some quick math. While Warner Bros has not officially revealed the costs, rival studio executives estimate Barbie’s marketing budget to cost $150 million. This edges out the film’s production budget of $145 million significantly.
Despite boasting a talented team of Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie, and Ryan Gosling while also building on its head-to-head clash with Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, Barbie’s marketing team left no stone unturned in making sure that the promotions were in full swing.
The marketing department built on themes like the color pink, girl power, and Barbie-core fashion to cater to its fan following. In fact, there were multiple reports that the movie caused a global shortage in pink paint.
Barbie’s opening weekend was $337M. That’s nearly 2x Oppenheimer’s $174M.
Warner Brother's insane ”Operation Barbie Summer” is a big part of that success.
These are 50 of the team's most amazing marketing stunts:
1. 3D ad in front of Burj Khalifapic.twitter.com/MJAUVSGSa5
— Aakash Gupta (@aakashg0) July 25, 2023
A multitude of collaborations went viral and increased visibility and awareness for the movie. Furthermore, the Barbenheimer phenomenon on TikTok and Instagram used some of the manufactured marketing and turned it into organic engagements and conversations.
Promotional campaigns for Barbie
Apart from the movie itself, Barbie’s team leaves behind a plethora of marketing campaigns as memorabilia for the future. Most of the $150 million marketing budget seems to have gone in favor of these collaborations.
Some interesting merchandise collaborators include a Gap collection, Barbie x Bloomingdales, hot pink Beis suitcases, a Superga sneaker capsule collection, accessories with Fossil and countless other makeup and skincare brand collabs.
the barbie movie marketing team gotta be money laundering because i’ve never seen a movie with this much marketing pic.twitter.com/zSENviyRLI
— 𝒢 (@girlscommunityy) July 17, 2023
The Airbnb listing of a real-life Barbie Dreamhouse in Malibu went viral. Brazil’s Burger King had a limited-edition Barbie cheeseburger dressed with a weird pink sauce. Other notable collabs include brands like Xbox, Bumble, Hot Topic, Roku, Progressive Insurance, and more.
Barbie’s box office success
The extensive and expensive marketing campaign has already worked wonders for the movie as Barbie had the biggest opening weekend this year at the US box office. The film was released on July 21 and earned $155 million in the US, and $337 million globally in its opening weekend.
the barbie movie marketing team gotta be money laundering because i’ve never seen a movie with this much marketing https://t.co/F4o3JokUIc
— kira 👾 (@kirawontmiss) July 16, 2023
The global box office numbers for Barbie already break even with the film’s overall budget which includes the whopping $150 marketing costs. The film has broken a lot of records as it became the highest-opening film in the US by a female director.
may allah give you barbie marketing budget kind of money
— World's Spiciest Ramen🇵🇸 (@dezgostang) July 16, 2023
Barbie’s box office numbers are twice as much as the competing Oppenheimer while the 3-hour long, R-rated biopic has won critical favor. Regardless, both movies’ runs seem unstoppable at this point which is important amidst the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike.
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