Barbenheimer was slated to be the movie-going experience of the summer — and it far surpassed our expectations.
As writers in the WGA and actors in SAG-AFTRA take part in historic strikes, the movie-making business is pausing, delaying, or canceling much of the work that keeps the Hollywood machine running. All the while, movie-goers are heading to the theaters for a fat double feature for Greta Gerwig’s much-anticipated Barbie — a meta summer blockbuster about the Mattel doll brought to life — and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer — a three-hour historical drama about the making of the atomic bomb. According to Deadline, the two films together are earning more than $260 million combined globally.
Barbenheimer shocker: What ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ have in common
Barbie, which has over $90 million in presales and is expecting to earn $165 million worldwide, is a fun film featuring a massive A-list cast, including Margo Robbie and Ryan Gosling. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Barbie had the biggest domestic start ever for a movie directed by a woman in the U.S.
Oppenheimer, a decidedly different vibe, is a World War II-era film featuring all the stars that weren’t in Barbie — Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, and more. Three-hour dramas don’t tend to bring in the same kind of opening weekend cash that, say, a fun heady movie about dolls might, but even Oppenheimer is slated to bring in $40 to $50 million dollars in the U.S. and $45 million abroad — a nearly $100 million global start.
There’s been a pretty massive movement on social media to hit the movie theaters this weekend to see the two movies back-to-back, with a meal in between or simply running from one theater to another. I, personally, started with a Barbie matinee, chased it with BBQ, and closed out my day with an evening showing of Oppenheimer. This was the correct order and I will not take questions.