Hi (Again) Barbie! Barbie is Coming Back To Theaters In January

On Wednesdays we wear pink. But we’ll also be wearing pink the last Friday in January, because we just heard at Barbie is returning to theaters for a limited run and when it comes to Barbie, you’d better come correct.

While Barbie is currently available for in-home viewing — via streaming services, Blu-Ray/DVD, and digital purchase — I think we can all agree that there was something really special about going to see this one in theaters with our friends (and kids)! Now we’ll get another chance. Tickets for the week-long run, which begins Friday, January 26, will go on sale next week.

The film was the most commercially successful of 2023, earning nearly $1.5 billion at the box office. This awards season has also been kind to Barbie, with dozens of nominations at the Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and BAFTA Awards (among others) as well as a number of wins including Cinematic and Box Office Achievement and Best Original Song (Golden Globes), Best Original Screenplay (Critics Choice), and Movie of the Year (American Film Institute).

The Academy Awards (aka the Oscars) will release their nominations on January 23, and we’re willing to bet that Barbie snags a few of those as well.

For director Greta Gerwig, Barbie is a film that in many ways was conceived of as a distinctly theatrical experience. In a recent conversation with filmmaker Brad Bird, she explained, “The whole time Noah Baumbach and I were writing the movie and then making the movie, the thing that we were most fervent and excited about was this dream of people going back to movie theaters and being in groups of people in the dark laughing and cheering and crying.”

If you’re thinking about bringing your little ones to catch it in theaters because you couldn’t make it over the summer, know that while Barbie dolls are intended for little kids, Barbie (the movie) is courting an older audience and is rated PG-13 due to “suggestive references and brief language.” That’s not to say you can’t bring your 9-year-old: mine absolutely loved it and has watched it at home since laughing out loud (and crying her eyes out) in theaters this past July. Every child and family is different and “appropriate” is pretty subjective. Still it’s good to go into the experience, whether in theaters or streaming, with eyes wide open.