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Fortune
Fortune
Paige McGlauflin

How Mattel's CEO dove into a culturally-challenged company losing hundreds of millions a year and emerged with a Barbie box office phenomenon

(Credit: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

This weekend thousands of fans will swarm their local movie theaters to see Barbie’s big-screen debut. 

Opening weekend ticket sales for Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, are expected to bring in as much as $150 million opening weekend. That would put it on par with Spider-Man 3, which had the 26th-highest weekend box office debut. Gerwig is also likely to secure the record for the largest opening weekend for a female director (Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman currently holds that title, earning $103.2 million on opening weekend).

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