Crowds flooded the box office this past July with the dual blockbuster showing of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer alongside Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.
Both films had a star-studded cast consisting of Cillian Murphy starring in Oppenheimer and both Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling starring in Barbie. Though these two movies certainly pertain to polarizing topics, viewers nonetheless attended both films. This trend of appreciating the lighthearted Barbie film as well as the solemn Oppenheimer was recognized within meme culture as ‘Barbenheimer’.
The films’ simultaneous release was an instance of counterprogramming which is a marketing strategy in which a tonally different film is released on the same day as a major film. A separate example of this phenomenon can be seen when The Dark Knight Rises and Mamma Mia! released in theatres on the same day in 2012.
As their release date grew nearer, rather than generating a rivalry, suggestions emerged to watch the films as a double feature—as well as what order to watch them—and cast members of both responded by encouraging audiences to watch the films on the same day. This option was much more prudent than putting the two films head-to-head and ensured the success of both parties involved.
Box Office Success
When it was revealed that both movies will be released on the same day, the moniker was born. There were even suspicions that Warner had pitted Barbie against Oppenheimer as retaliation for Nolan leaving the studio, which had been his longtime residence, and moving to Universal.
The tone difference between the two movies, though, was too absurdly sharp for social media users to ignore, and soon the scheduling produced more of an informal cooperation than a competition. Barbenheimer became well-known. People discussed their plans to view the bombshell and the A-Bomb in tandem, including the best sequence to watch both in, what to dress, what drinks to order, and what foods to serve as hors d’oeuvres, such as pink sugar floss for Barbie and pitch-black liquorice, perhaps, for Oppenheimer.
This widespread talk about the two films only increased the already colossal hype, leading both to crush t box office records. Barbie has crossed the $1 billion mark worldwide, earning $1.18 billion so far, making Greta Gerwig the first solo female director to do so. Oppenheimer has made $648 million globally — an amazing feat for a three-hour-long film based on a historical figure.
Controversy in Japan
Though this may seem like sunshine and rainbows, Warner Bros Japan did not see it in the same light as many American celebrities. It is common knowledge that Japan suffered hugely from the bombings at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and many Japanese believe that crossing Barbie with a film about those very bombings is insensitive. Warner Bros. Japan has even criticized what it called “extremely regrettable” Barbenheimer tweets shared by their US counterparts.
The Barbie US Twitter account, which responded to one Barbenheimer fan art poster which depicts Margot Robbie’s Barbie sitting on the shoulders of Cillian Murphy’s J. Robert Oppenheimer in front of a fiery atomic mushroom cloud, by writing: “It’s going to be a summer to remember.”
Is this overlap between the two films insensitive, or a creative way to interact with a fanbase?
