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Barbie, one half of the behemoth box office phenomenon “Barbenheimer,” achieved colossal success at the box office with no shortage of credit going to Ryan Gosling. The Drive actor, deviating from his propensity to pursue action and drama projects, has shifted toward more family-friendly ventures like The Fall Guy and upcoming projects Star Wars: Starfighter and Project Hail Mary.
But one might wonder why we rarely read his name in box office headlines beyond Barbie. Could it be that Gosling carries industry box office poison, and to what extent does his reputation precede him?
From Academy Award® winning filmmakers Phil Lord and Christopher Miller comes #ProjectHailMary, starring Academy Award® nominee Ryan Gosling. Only in theaters and IMAX – 3.20.26 pic.twitter.com/O8lKbXOmoa
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— Project Hail Mary (@projecthailmary) June 30, 2025
Co-starring Margot Robbie, Barbie dominated theaters with a record-breaking $356 million global opening weekend and ultimately reached $1.4 billion worldwide, per Box Office Mojo. It also earned Gosling an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
However, his last sole box office success beyond Barbie traces back to his previous Oscar nomination for La La Land nearly seven years before this. Barbie required just 16 days to surpass the musical and become his highest-grossing film. The Damien Chazelle musical romance had generated $448 million globally in 2016, after several re-releases it crossed $500 million, according to Box Office Mojo.
Since Gosling has worked for only a couple of decades and has appeared in fewer and grounded films, the question arises whether his remaining filmography can compete with the pink doll’s box office triumph.
Fixed it for you @RyanGosling pic.twitter.com/Ue9x17kyGV
— La La Land (@LaLaLand) May 3, 2024
Within North America, only the Denzel Washington-led Remember the Titans could join Gosling’s above two blockbusters in entering the $100 million range — a blasphemously low quantity for any actor. Not only do the actor’s successes mostly revolve around rom-coms, including Crazy, Stupid, Love ($145 million) and The Notebook ($118 million) — bestowing an advantage over his indie darlings — they scarcely attain the sanctified milestone.
Additionally, most of Gosling’s works have opened modestly, typically around $11 million domestically, such as Drive, The Nice Guys, and Fracture, a pattern that perpetuates when tracing his entire filmography, as the calculations spotlight a flabbergasting reality.
His post-La La Land ventures paint a particularly murky picture. Blade Runner 2049, despite critical acclaim, earned only $278 million globally against its substantial budget, registering as a commercial disappointment. The Fall Guy, his Barbie follow-up, proved equally disastrous with just over $181 million across worldwide markets, despite registering his fourth biggest grosser.
Combined, the First Man star’s entire pre-Barbie filmography amounts to roughly $1.9 billion worldwide across two decades for an average of around $80 million per movie. The average since the Margot Robbie film has successfully risen to $110 million, still in need of a substantial recovery.
While the above number supercedes what Barbie achieved as a single release, it does respond to the precedent of industry insiders questioning Ryan Gosling’s viability as a box office “drive.”
Stay tuned to Koimoi for more box office updates!
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