Barbie breaks record to become Ireland's highest-ever grossing film

Exactly one month and one day after its release, Gerwig's Barbie has accumulated over €8.85m, taking the top spot from James Cameron's Avatar

Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie arrive for the European premiere of Barbie at Cineworld Leicester Square in London. 

Greta Gerwig's Barbie has broken yet another record with the live-action reboot now the highest-grossing film in Irish box office history.

Starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, the film has broken James Cameron's 14-year reign as the most successful movie in Ireland, with Barbie surpassing the 2009 film, Avatar, exactly one month and one day after its release.

According to the Irish Film and Television News website, Barbie has accumulated more than €8.85m in Ireland following four consecutive weeks at the top of the Irish Box Office, surpassing Avatar by more than €151,000 and bringing it to second place, ahead of Titanic, also directed by James Cameron.

Continuing to sell out cinemas across Ireland, Barbie's box office success has also been reflected in recent spending reports, with Bank of Ireland earlier this month revealing a 136% month-on-month spike in cinema spending throughout July.

Reporting a mere 5% jump in the same period last year, the major increase reflects the sudden surge in demand, which coincides with the release of this year's biggest motion pictures.

The success of Gerwig's live-action remake has been helped in part by the Barbenheimer phenomenon, a double bill celebrating the shared opening day of both Barbie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer. 

Greta Gerwig, Director of Barbie

According to the IFTN, 799,000 admissions were recorded in Irish cinemas in the two films' first week.

Also benefitting from widespread hype and film enthusiasts, Oppenheimer has now accumulated €5.5m at the Irish box office, holding second place in the top ten a month after its release.

Following Barbie's unmatched success, Eoin Wrexon, chief executive of cinema advertising company Pearl and Dean Ireland, said, "To see Barbie on track to rank as one of the biggest films of all time at the Irish box office shows how cinema has returned stronger than ever."