Barbenheimer

2023

Date: 21 July 2023 · Place: AMC and Regal multiplexes, US and UK · Figures: Greta Gerwig, Barbie director · Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer director · Margot Robbie · Cillian Murphy · the same-day-release schedulers · Tags: Box Office, Double Feature, Pink and Mushroom Cloud 01. Two Films, One Friday Warner Bros. releases Barbie and Universal releases Oppenheimer on the same Friday, 21 July 2023. The internet schedules double features. Barbie pulls 162 million dollars in its US opening weekend. Oppenheimer pulls 82 million, the largest opening ever for a three-hour R-rated biopic. Combined the weekend is the fourth-largest in domestic history. Fan-made posters splicing Margot Robbie's pink and Cillian Murphy's mushroom cloud circulate for two months before release. Tom Cruise tweets a photo of his ticket stubs for both. 02. The Theatrical Argument Barbenheimer is the rebuttal to the streaming-killed-theaters narrative. Both films skip same-day streaming. Both reward the big screen. The portmanteau holds because the contrast is total: feminist toy comedy versus J. Robert Oppenheimer crying about a thousand suns. The double-feature meme converts the contrast into a single cultural event. Sources • Box Office Mojo, 'Barbenheimer Weekend' (24 July 2023) • The New York Times, 'Barbie and Oppenheimer Lift Hollywood' (23 July 2023) • Variety, 'How Barbenheimer Became a Phenomenon' (20 July 2023)