LONDON — It began as an internet joke and ended as the best weekend cinemas have had in four years. “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” — pink comedy and atomic tragedy, released on the same day by rival studios — opened on Friday to packed houses, as audiences embraced the double bill the internet had christened “Barbenheimer”.
The pairing should not have worked. Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” is a day-glo satire of the doll and the patriarchy; Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” is a three-hour, partly black-and-white drama about the man who built the bomb, shot on giant-format film. Instead of cannibalising each other, they amplified each other: chains reported sold-out double features, cinemas ran out of seats, and a measurable share of ticket buyers chose to see both back to back.
For an industry still limping from the pandemic, the timing is almost too neat. The openings come a week after Hollywood’s actors joined its writers on strike, shutting down promotion just as the year’s biggest films arrived — the stars of both films walked their red carpets last week and then walked off the promotional circuit.
The success also carries a message the studios may not enjoy: both films are original works by distinctive directors, not sequels. After a summer in which familiar franchises have stumbled, audiences have turned out in force for the two least familiar objects on offer.
Whether the weekend becomes a legend or a one-off will depend on the weeks ahead. But cinema owners, at least, will not forget the Friday the crowds came back — half in pink, half in fedoras.
Media-Society.com is a press network association based in Spain, founded in 2020. More at www.media-society.com.
