I do think sexism and racism played a role in it not doing well, but I don’t have any data to back that up.

According to a poll on The Marvels’ box office performance, 65% of the audience were males.

And Barbie was the highest grossing film of 2023, so I don’t think it’s because of misogyny or anything. The sexists and racists on the Internet make up a small fraction of moviegoers.

maybe also how it was marketed and stuff?

Well, they couldn’t really market the movie at all because of the SAG-AFTRA strike, which ended literally the day before it was released.

There were also some TV spots that tried to portray the film as more serious than it actually was, even trying to tie it back to Endgame!