Barbie: Close to a quarter of the audience hasn’t been to the theater in years

As Barbie continues dominating the box office with over $1 billion worldwide, a new survey from film tracking service The Quorum has revealed that nearly a quarter of the movie’s audience hasn’t been to the theater in years.

The Quorum surveyed 1,800 people over the course of three weeks who had gone to the theater to see Barbie. One of the questions asked them to describe their theater-going habits. A whopping 22% said that they either couldn’t recall the last film they saw in theaters or that Barbie was the first movie they’ve seen in theaters since the pandemic. After doing the math, The Quorum estimated that that percentage translates to roughly 9 million people returning to theaters for the sole purpose of seeing Barbie.

When you think of some of the other major movies which were released during the pandemic, including Spider-Man: No Way Home, Top Gun: Maverick, and Avatar: The Way of Water, Barbie had that special something that was able to lure a new audience to theaters.

Of that 22% of Barbie movie-goers, 40% said that the experience “reminded them how much they love going to the movies, and that they would go more often,” while another 45% said that they would go more often but the cost is a major factor. 15% said that seeing Barbie in theaters was a one-off experience and they likely wouldn’t be back.

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie features a star-studded cast which includes Margot Robbie as the title character and Ryan Gosling as Ken. When Barbie suddenly begins to worry about her own mortality, she goes on a journey of self-discovery to the real world, accompanied by a love-lorn Ken. Considering how well the film is doing, you can almost certainly expect a sequel to be announced once the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have concluded, but it was recently revealed that neither Robbie, Gosling, or Gerwig have deals in place to return for a sequel.

Barbie is currently playing in theaters, so be sure to check out a review from our own Chris Bumbray and let us know what you thought of the movie as well.

Was Barbie the first film to lure you back to theaters since the pandemic?