Barbie just had the best box office opening day of 2023

Barbie’s attack on the American box office has begun in earnest, at last: Variety reports that Greta Gerwig’s subversive take on the classic Mattel doll has just logged the largest opening day at the box office in 2023. Combining Thursday night previews with the regular Friday take, Barbie brought in a hefty $70.5 million in its first day in front of audiences, putting it well ahead of the previous record holder, Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse.

Barbie enters a box office that’s been harder than ever to predict, with big studio movies like The Flash and Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny doing significantly worse than expected. Of course, neither one of those movies had the genuine surge of interest that Barbie has produced over the last several months, with the internet filling up with memes and Ken jokes well ahead of the film’s release.

And while it’s handily out-maneuvering friendly rival Oppenheimer this weekend, Barbie still has a long way to go if it wants to unseat the actual champion of the 2023 box office, The Super Mario Bros. Movie. Although it started a little slower, Mario picked up steam quickly across the Easter holiday—and, unlike almost every other major American blockbuster this year, it had a robust showing in the international box office, bringing in more than half its billion-plus take in foreign markets.

The question now, for Barbie, is staying power: It’s on track for a very good opening weekend, and reviews in general have been overall positive. People (at least, online people) seem excited about it in a way that most of the big releases this year haven’t generated. But does it have the Ken-ergy to go the distance? Only time will tell.