A major part of the world has come under the influence of the Barbenheimer craze. Two movies having iconic and eccentric backgrounds, storytelling, and casts were released simultaneously on July 21, 2023, across the USA.
Barbie is the story of the globally renowned toy line of the same name. Margot Robbie plays Barbie, a doll living in the toy world who enters the real world. On the other hand, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is about the Manhattan Project – the code name for the project that created the first nuclear weapons.
Both movies have a distinctive representation of our varied cultures across the globe. However, the two movies have raised certain observations about the viewers’ concerns. As moviegoers flocked to cinemas to watch Barbie some parents raised apprehensions about the content that comprises the storyline of Barbie. Was that a publicity stunt or a valid fear is still a mystery.
The hype for Oppenheimer was valid because Nolan’s movies demands the viewers’ attention. His movies based on fictional characters are closer to reality and Oppenheimer, being a biographical drama, had to be as real as the movie is based on the life of the career of American theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. He was the director of the Manhattan Project’s Los Alamos Laboratory during World War II.
In the second week after their cinematic release, Barbie took in US$93 million in its second weekend while Oppenheimer stayed in second place with US$46.2 million. Interestingly, when Oppenheimer surpassed the $400 million mark in the international markets, Barbie earned $775 million at the worldwide box office within 10 days of release.
Barbenheimer is a phenomenon that will not end after a couple of weekends. It is expected to continue positively impacting the box office. As reported by CNBC on July 31, “The combined force of Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” and Universal’s “Oppenheimer” has led to more than $1.1 billion in global ticket sales since July 21.”
The Barbenheimer phenomenon is an interesting one indeed. We have two distinctive genres and storytelling facing a battle of viewership with Greta Gerwig’s pink sensation, Barbie, and Christopher Nolan’s historical drama, Oppenheimer. Barbie offers a feel-good narrative for a cheerful experience while Oppenheimer offers an intense introspection from the characters’ perspective into the implications of the atomic bomb.
Margot Robbie plays Barbie alongside Ryan Gosling (Kem) while Cillian Murphy plays J. Robert Oppenheimer along with Robert Downey Jr. (Lewis Strauss) and Emily Blunt (Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer) among others in an ensemble supporting cast. The Barbenheimer phenomenon made moviegoers experience two distinct genres. One that led to the wave of consumerism and the other that made this world a terrifying place to live.