Good morning, Peter Vanham here from rainy and cold Belgium, filling in for Alan.
Barbie this weekend affirmatively answered a billion dollar question: Whether a movie solely directed by a woman, starring a woman in the lead role, could ever become a mega Hollywood success. Greta Gerwig's Barbie has surpassed the $1 billion mark at the global box office, becoming one of just 53 movies to do so (not accounting for inflation). It is the only film solely directed by a woman to pass that threshold.
Barbie's blockbuster performance has capped the summer of the woman consumer. The film, the mega-popular tours of Taylor Swift and Beyoncé (each of which has disrupted local economies), and the ongoing Women's World Cup—already hailed as the "most successful" in history—have underscored the enormous importance of the female dollar.
