“Barbie is really important for us,” beamed Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav on the conglom’s Q2 earnings call about what will be the first pic to hit $1 billion under his reign.
In celebrating the pic’s success, he indicated that the movie would hit streaming service Max in the fall.
However, on a long theatrical window.
“We really believe in the motion picture window — let it play out … go into PVOD, take it through the windows that have worked forever [in the business],” he said. “When it goes on Max, it will have a good impact in the fall.”
Separately, Deadline has noticed that Barbie will hit airlines this September.
RELATED: 2023 Premiere Dates For New & Returning Series On Broadcast, Cable & Streaming
Zaslav since taking charge of Warner Bros Discovery has championed the theatrical window passionately, unlike the former Warner Bros Media administration that upset the town with their theatrical-day-and-date experiment on HBO Max during Covid.
Zaslav also mentioned how he rallied all the departments at the conglom to work together to build “The Summer of Barbie“. This included a Barbie dreamhouse special on HGTV which premiered to 4M viewers and was broadcasted in 106 countries as well as Barbie Food Network special and a sneak peek during NBA Finals on Turner sports. It’s a cross vertical promo playbook that Zaslav executed for HBO’s House of the Dragon and The Last of Us, as well as the videogame Hogwarts Legacy.
RELATED: July Domestic Box Office On Fire With $1.37 Billion, Second Best Ever
“All of our platforms can have an impact globally,” he said today.
“It starts with great content,” he continued giving a shoutout to Margot Robbie and Barbie director Greta Gerwig’s globe-trotting promotion for the tentpole.
Barbie will cross the $400M mark at the domestic box office today, in its 14th day, beating Top Gun: Maverick and Super Mario Bros Movie to that benchmark, both crossing in 18 days. The Mattel doll should cross the $1 billion mark on either Sunday or Monday. Total global outlook per sources is $1.3 billion for Barbie.
RELATED: Warner Bros. U.S. Responds To Barbenheimer Criticism Out Of Japan
WBD CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels said today on the call that the fruits of Barbie will be realized in Q3 for the company.
Meanwhile, DC’s The Flash, which had a 31-day theatrical window to PVOD, was considered a drag on WBD’s lackluster Q2 today.
RELATED: International Cinema Chain Vue Records “Best Ever Week” Thanks To ‘Barbie’ & ‘Oppenheimer’
Barbie was greenlit and shepherded by the former Warners motion picture administration led by Toby Emmerich and Courtenay Valenti.