The Glory of Barbenheimer: The Barbie and Oppenheimer Double Feature

This week sees what may be the biggest movie event of the year dropping into cinemas: Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer premiering on roughly the same day across the world: July 21st, 2023, collectively the two have become known under the internet phenomenon of “Barbenheimer”.

In a summer filled with some actual box office bombs, Barbie and Oppenheimer have been held up for the pure fun of such a different pair of movies coming out on the same day and it’s this very stark contrast that in turn has given both a boost in publicity, from crossover fan art to memes, to various edits and comments on social media. They even got a Wikipedia page.

Big movie/ internet events like this don’t happen very often but now that we got another one, it’s certainly a riot for everyone involved.

Dropping The Bomb

The first reason the Barbenheimer duo has got people so excited is simply that they both look like such good movies and with Oppenheimer, that goes without saying.

Christopher Nolan has more than made his name as one of the best directors in modern times pushing out hits like The Dark Knight Trilogy, Inception, Memento, and many others (Tenet was kinda mid, but it’s still a mostly good record). Oppenheimer not only adds to that track record but looks to be one of his best.

The trailer perfectly captures the weight J. Robert Oppenheimer had on his shoulders when creating the atomic bomb, fully knowing when creating this weapon he will “become death, the destroyer of worlds”.

It’s a dark movie covering a topic that haunts humanity even to this day and from what we’ve seen from the marketing, treats said subject matter with what seems like an appropriate amount of melancholy and dread. That makes it all the more humorous when lined up with its new launch mate.

A Barbie Girl, In a Barbie World…

While Oppenheimer feels like it always going to be a hit, I think it’s pretty fair to say that no one expected Barbie to look as good as it does.

Whether warranted or not, Barbie as a brand has always been somewhat controversial, often disregarded as the quintessential “pink aisle” girls’ toy. It was always the first thing teachers and lecturers would bring up when showcasing the stereotypes and unrealistic expectations girls are held up to from a young age with Barbie’s “Barbie doll physique”, emphasis on fashion and looks, and overall vapid feel.

In that regard, the very fact that there is a live-action Barbie movie feels like a strange anomaly in of itself but add onto that it has a star-studded cast like Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling donning the neon pink roller skates of Barbie and Ken makes it seem even stranger.

Director Greta Gerwig (Ladybird) seems to know this however and from the trailers, has written a smart, snappy commentary that both celebrates the pastel plastic world of Barbie while also commentating on it and its fascinating.

Barbie x Oppenheimer

That’s really what a lot of the Barbenheimer pairing comes down to. Not just one is dark and the other is shiny and colorful but one was always destined to be at least a reasonable hit, while the other just came out of nowhere. No one expected it to look this good, and yet it does.

It also helps that both movies have almost the exact opposite approach to marketing. Oppenheimer has had trailers and posters but for the most part, we haven’t seen a lot of the movie with it being clear that it’s going to sell based on the director, actors, and subject matter alone (although there was a rumor they detonated an actual bomb on set).

Barbie, on the other hand, has gone all out with plenty of memable posters, cute Barbie box stands to take pictures in and spread over social media, and last, but not least, Ryan Gosling being absolutely precious talking about honing his “Kenergy” for what could now very well be a career-defining role.

Once In A Blue Moon

The final important piece of this comparison is that as exciting as Barbenheimer is, what makes it work in particular is that it all happened by chance. A lot of thought is put into when a movie will premier including what other movies are coming out around that time so that audiences don’t choose one over the other.

The fact that Oppenheimer and Barbie are premiering on the same day means that the studios in charge of both movies likely assumed that there would be little audience overlap between people who want to watch them. Imagine their surprise when they found the opposite, people think they both look amazing and want to see both.

By complete coincidence, it’s not even just them that are releasing on July 21st, 2023 as Pikmin 4 is launching for the Switch, and Shin Kamen Rider is releasing in the US for Amazon Prime.

The Coincidence Crossover

The closest I can think of coming close to this phenomenon is in 2020 when Doom Eternal and Animal Crossing New Horizons launched on the same day, leading to a similar amount of crossover fan art and memes, even the game developers themselves joined in. The fun of these events is that it’s clear this was not planned. People’s natural curiosity connected them together for a very natural feeling of union between two otherwise very different works.

It’s a win for both audiences and the studio especially as it’s something they really can’t force. Things like “the best movie ever made” Morbius have very clearly shown what happens when these big companies try to use memes and internet discourse to their advantage.

Come On Bobby, Let’s Go Party~

At its core, the Barbie and Oppenheimer double feature really comes down to two anticipated movies, both of which look to be very good, coming out on the same day making for a spectacular event for all those that want to watch.

While it again, was not accounted for, the fact that the summer of 2023 has seen so many box office flops that you’d think would be big hits just furthers the hype for Berbenheimer to save to summer and it likely will. AMC Theatres, the world’s largest cinema chain has already said more than 20,000 moviegoers have booked to watch both movies back to back.

In their differences, Oppenheimer and Barbie have found unity. One is dark, the other is light, one was likely always in the running to win a couple of Oscars and the other appeared out of the blue but just might take a few for themselves. It’s going to be a fun weekend at the cinema, complete with a pink mushroom cloud filled with sprinkles and glitter.

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