Without this film, the adaptation of Barbie could not exist, the director admits

It is now the 14th biggest hit of all time: Barbie has become a movie phenomenon and is almost unprecedented in recent Hollywood history. A big-budget comedy based on an intellectual property never before seen on the big screen, directed by an independent filmmaker with a deadpan tone: the bet was risky! And without another movie already released by Warner, it probably never would have been financed!

This scene, one of the best in the movie, almost got cut!

in the interview Empire ( with the help of Slashfilm), Greta Gerwig, the director of Barbie, explained how the film industry works to see if a movie will get the green light, and that it wasn’t a given for Barbie.

“There’s been no precedent – we haven’t been able to come up with anything that’s called a ‘comparison’. But that’s what they budget for and assess the risks.”

I know we couldn’t have made this movie without Patty Jenkins doing Wonder Woman.

Wonder Woman was also produced by Warner, directed by a woman (an important stat, because remember that only 14.6% of films in 2022 were directed by a woman, that figure. Decreased from 2020) and with a big budget.

But Wonder Woman wasn’t enough!

Gerwig adds: “But at the same time, we can’t compare ourselves to Wonder Woman because superheroes are in their own category.”

Because in fact, in Hollywood, “comp” (which in French can be translated as “comparo”) is done between films of the same category: Western with Western, superhero with superhero, etc. Producers therefore compare the budget and revenue of the project at hand with another of the same caliber that has already been published to assess whether it is worth funding, and if so, how much.

Except that Barbie didn’t fit into any category and couldn’t be compared to anything. The problem has now been solved after Warner bet on releasing it with a substantial budget (around $145 million) and it earned $1.44 billion worldwide! Thanks to this success, the film became the first comparo in its category, according to Gerwig:

” has become a comparison that other people can now use and say, ‘Okay, that worked.’ It’s a female character, a comedy, Noah and I wrote it, a female director, that kind of thing: it’s there, and it worked. Hopefully it helps other female characters .”

15 “Barbie” Mistakes Michelle and Michelle Spotted!