Barbenheimer
The stark contrast between Barbie—a fantasy comedy by Greta Gerwig about the fashion doll Barbie—and Oppenheimer—an epic biographical thriller by Christopher Nolan about theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, the scientific director of the Manhattan Project during World War II— prompted a comedic response from Internet users, including memes, merchandise and memorabilia.
Celebrity participants included actor Tom Cruise, who purchased tickets to watch both while his latest film, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, was still playing in theaters.
[21][22] In December 2020, citing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cinema, WarnerMedia, the then-parent company of Warner Bros. Pictures, announced it would release all 17 of its upcoming 2021 films exclusively on its streaming service, HBO Max, in what was nicknamed "Project Popcorn".
[36] According to Margot Robbie, Oppenheimer producer Charles Roven called her and suggested they move the release date for Barbie, but she declined.
[45] Businesses have also posted about the phenomenon; a Barnes & Noble store in Olympia, Washington, presented a "Barbeinheimer [sic] Starter Pack" on TikTok, accruing 30,000 likes.
[51] Barbie star Margot Robbie showed her support in the action when questioned by a Sky News reporter at the film's London event.
[53][54] SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher later claimed the studios "duped" the guild into accepting a 12-day extension for negotiations to continue promoting summer films such as Barbie and Oppenheimer.
"[57][59] CNN Entertainment writer Scottie Andrew recommended watching Oppenheimer first and Barbie second, comparing it to "saving dessert for after dinner".
Farnell argued that watching Barbie then Oppenheimer "will leave you upset, confused, and more aware than ever that your existence could be snatched away at any moment by forces totally outside of your control".
[83] Tom Cruise, whom director Steven Spielberg proclaimed had "saved Hollywood's ass" with the success of Top Gun: Maverick the previous year,[88] referred to Barbie and Oppenheimer as a double feature in a Twitter post along with photographs of him and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One director Christopher McQuarrie with tickets to the two films.
[89][f] At the premiere of Air, actor and Oppenheimer star Matt Damon told Vanity Fair that audiences are "allowed to go see two movies in a weekend".
[96] The Barbenheimer phenomenon sparked negative reactions in Japan,[97] where Oppenheimer is seen as a controversial film due to its title character's association with the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,[98] and was not screened until the following year, 29 March 2024.
When the live-action Barbie film's official Twitter account (@barbiethemovie) reacted favorably to image designs created by fans that incorporated the mushroom cloud of and fire from an atomic bomb and punning "it will be a blast", it was met with heavy backlash[99] within Japan.
[100] This was attributed to Japan's educational emphasis on the destruction caused by nuclear weapons,[citation needed] as the only country to have been attacked by them in an armed conflict.
[102] Some Japanese users made Barbenheimer-related memes referencing the September 11 attacks in place of Oppenheimer material to demonstrate their perspective on the atomic bombings, though this is widely viewed as having backfired due to many Americans' taste for 9/11 humor.
On the night of July 31, 2023 (PST), Warner's headquarters issued a statement to news outlets, writing that it regrets "its recent insensitive social media engagement" and that it "offers a sincere apology", and the Barbie film's American Twitter account reportedly began to delete the replies in question.
[109] Writing for FirstShowing, Alex Billington compared how philosophical both films were, citing concepts present in each such as existentialism, Marcel Proust, and how both protagonists discover truth similar to Plato's Cave.
[111] Though the Internet joke began as a reference to the two films' seeming differences, some writers have pointed out similarities between them, including that "Nolan and Gerwig are both [Oscar-nominated] directors,[b] both have huge ensemble casts of stars, and they are both produced by husband-and-wife production companies".
[c][112] Writing for The Escapist, critic Darren Mooney also found similarities between the two films, noting that both "are about the relationship that exists between imagination and reality, as well as about what happens when ideas begin to manifest themselves in the corporeal world.
[114] Also in The Washington Post, Tyler Austin Harper wrote that both films explore the theoretical notion of the Anthropocene, the geological epoch defined by humanity's impact: "Despite their apparent differences, both Barbie and Oppenheimer tell the story of core ideas of the 20th century: accelerating militarism and unbounded consumption, ideas which might well outlive our species in the form of plastic and plutonium's lingering traces across our fragile planet.
"[115] Jake Coyle of the Associated Press analyzed the box office gross of Barbie and Oppenheimer and noted that their success may point to audiences wanting more originality in films, following "flopbusters" like The Flash and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, both of which became box-office bombs.
[116] Writing for IndieWire, Eric Kohn repeated the sentiment, "audiences want originality and invention, not endless sequels", suggesting studios would benefit from cultivating young, visionary directors at film festivals.
[120] An IndieWire reviewer who watched Oppenheimer first (with several audience members dressed in pink and one wearing a Barbenheimer T-shirt) said the films worked "decently" as a double feature.
[121] On the other hand, a reviewer in The Guardian who also watched Oppenheimer first compared the experience to whiplash and to "having your mother's funeral invaded by a flashmob of parking circus clowns".
Barbie secured six wins, including Best Original Screenplay and Best Comedy, and America Ferrera, one of the film's actors, received the #SeeHer Award.
[132] Universal successfully deployed counterprogramming as early as 2002, when it opened the dramedy About a Boy opposite the science-fiction blockbuster Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.
[134] BBC News observed the phenomenon occur during October 2013 when two very different Scotland set films, black crime comedy Filth, and romantic musical Sunshine on Leith open the same week in the UK.
Men's magazine GQ observed the phenomenon occurring in the holiday season, such as Avatar: The Way of Water and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish in 2022, and compared summer to an "all-or-nothing bloodsport".
[33] Barbenheimer has seen comparisons to the simultaneous release of the video game titles Animal Crossing: New Horizons and Doom Eternal on March 20, 2020, which prompted a similar online crossover phenomenon at the time.
