I really wish someone would explain “Barbenheimer” to me. I’m not asking HOW it happened – although I’m sure there’s hundreds of publicity people researching that right now. I want to know WHY it happened. Why did everyone jump on the “Barbenheimer” bandwagon. Occasionally, two competing studios will promote a movie, but that’s when they co-produce the movie. I don’t think there has ever been a time when two competing studios have gotten together to promote two competing movies. Especially two movies that are opening in theaters on the exact same day. Two completely different movies – one is an R rated historical biography and the other is a PG-13 movie about the real-life adventures of a toy.
I’m pretty sure that Warner Bros originally scheduled the “Barbie” release on the exact same weekend as the “Oppenheimer” release so it would kill the “Oppenheimer” box office. Warner Bros was upset that Christopher Nolan made a deal with Universal to make “Oppenheimer” after working with Warner Bros for the past couple decades (since “Insomnia” in 2002). As little as a month before the opening weekend of both movies, the forecasts were predicting that “Barbie” would easily beat “Oppenheimer” at the box office. Then “Barbenheimer” became popular, and Warner Bros decided to jump on the bandwagon. They supported the idea of watching both movies as a double feature. They participated in it so much that they got into a little trouble. They showed some fan photos of “Barbenheimer” on social media that included an atomic bomb mushroom cloud. This really upset Warner Bros in Japan – the hashtag “#NoBarbenheimer” became popular there – so Warner Bros (US) had to apologize for being insensitive
It may never be known how much “Barbenheimer” helped the “Barbie” box office, but the movie is an unbelievable success.
“Barbie” box office (as of 8/14/2023)
- #2 movie of 2023 in North America – over $531 million
- #2 movie of 2023 Worldwide – almost $1.2 BILLION.
It’s possible that “Barbie” would have been equally successful if there was no “Barbenheimer”. One thing for sure is that “Barbie” would have played on some IMAX screens if it didn’t open against “Oppenheimer”. Universal made a deal with IMAX to play “Oppenheimer” on ALL the IMAX screens for the first 3 weeks of its release because the movie was filmed with IMAX cameras. The next Warner Bros release – “Meg 2 The Trench” – also didn’t play on any IMAX screens since it opened 2 weeks after “Oppenheimer” was released. There is a rumor that IMAX said they’d keep “Dune Part 2” on IMAX screens longer when it opens in November to make up for “Oppenheimer” taking all the IMAX screens in July.
On the other hand, I can understand why Universal decided to jump on the “Barbenheimer” bandwagon. They were trying their best to promote “Oppenheimer”. They made sure to include the big stars in the movie such as Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Kenneth Branagh, Florence Pugh, and Robert Downey Jr in all the advertising (although some of them are only in a few scenes of the movie) since the lead role is played by Cillian Murphy who isn’t that popular in the US. Compared to Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in “Barbie” most people would say “Cillian who??”. (SPOILER ALERT) After that, my guess is that Universal had a hand in leaking the news that Florence Pugh had nude scenes in the movie (END OF SPOILER). However, none of their promotions seemed to work that well. One forecast I read said there was a possibility that “Oppenheimer” would come in 3rd on its opening weekend behind “Barbie” and the 2nd weekend of “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1”. So, when “Barbenheimer” started popping up on social media, Universal immediately jumped on it. Director Christopher Nolan commented about it and some of the stars of the movie also said it was a good idea to see both movies. Matt Damon said his family would go see both movies (although I’m not sure the R rated “Oppenheimer” would be appropriate if Matt Damon has young children). That highlights the main problem with the “Barbenheimer” double feature for “Oppenheimer”. Even if teenagers are interested in watching the double feature, they won’t be able to see the R rated “Barbenheimer” if they’re under 17 (unless they sneak in – see my other article about movie ratings). I don’t think many parents will want their children watching a movie about the creation of the atomic bomb.
As for how much “Barbenheimer” helped “Oppenheimer”, it’s somewhat difficult to tell. I’m sure there were some people who saw the “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” double feature (or maybe “Oppenheimer” first and then “Barbie”) but when people talk about the success of “Barbenheimer”, most of the success is for “Barbie”. “Barbie” has made about TWICE AS MUCH as “Oppenheimer” at the box office so far.
Box office (as of 8/14/2023)
- “Barbie” – #2 movie of 2023 in North America – over $531 million
- “Oppenheimer” – #7 movie of 2023 in North America – almost $267 million (approx. half of “Barbie)
- “Barbie” #2 movie of 2023 Worldwide – almost $1.2 BILLION.
- “Oppenheimer” – #6 movie of 2023 Worldwide – over $650 million (approx. 54% of “Barbie”)
In the 2023 domestic box office, “Oppenheimer” hasn’t even passed the box office of “Avatar The Way of Water” yet, although that movie made about 60% of its box office last year. Another thing about the “Oppenheimer” box office is that the most profitable screens are showing it on IMAX 70mm film, 70mm film, or 35mm film. Even without “Barbenheimer”, those would have been the most profitable screens. Director Christopher Nolan always recommends seeing his movie on film, especially IMAX 70mm film the way it was filmed.
Something that is even more questionable is that there’s more than just 2 competing movies that jumped on the “Barbenheimer” bandwagon. The star of a different competing movie jumped on the bandwagon. At first, the news said that Tom Cruise was very upset that “Oppenheimer” was taking ALL the IMAX screens away from “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1” and “Barbie” was taking almost all the other premium format screens. Then, just a few days later, he supposedly jumped on the “Barbenheimer” bandwagon and changed his mind. He said that he was looking forward to watching both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer”. I’m not sure what changed his mind but I’m guessing that Paramount doesn’t feel the same way. Paramount released “Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1” just 10 days before the “Barbenheimer” movies. They moved the release date up from Friday July 14 to Wednesday July 12 so that it would play in theaters a couple more days before the two competing movies opened. When the other two movies opened, the box office for “Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1” went down about 65%. It wasn’t even the #3 movie at the domestic box office that weekend. It was also beaten by “Sound of Freedom”.
The press also seemed to jump on to the “Barbenheimer” bandwagon. Every week the news talks about the box office records that were beaten – mostly by “Barbie”. They even reported some questionable records. One report said that “Nearly a Quarter of ‘Barbie’ Filmgoers in the U.S. Hadn’t Been to a Theater Since Before Pandemic, Survey Finds”. REALLY? There are 4 movies that have made MORE money than “Barbie” domestically since the start of the pandemic.
Top domestic box office since the pandemic started (as of 8/14/2023)
- “Spider-Man: No Way Home” – almost $815 million
- “Top Gun Maverick” – almost $719 million,
- “Avatar The Way Water” – almost $684 million
- “The Super Mario Bros Movie” (currently the #1 movie of 2023) – almost $575 million
- “Barbie” – over $531 million
“Spider Man: No Way Home” has made about 150% more than “Barbie” has made so far, so if that survey is correct then the other 75% of filmgoers must have seen “Spider Man: No Way Home” TWICE AS MUCH as they went to see “Barbie”.
Another news item said that “Barbie” had ONE OF the best 4th weekends at the domestic box office. That could be true – maybe Barbie is in the top 10 – but they shouldn’t brag about that since there were recent movies that made more money on their 4th weekend.
Domestic box office on the 4th weekend
- “Avatar The Way of Water” (Jan 6-8, 2023) – almost $46 million
- “Top Gun Maverick” (June 17-19, 2022) – almost $45 million
- “The Super Mario Bros Movie” (April 28-30, 2023) – over $40 million
- “Barbie” (Aug 11-13, 2023) – over $33 million
“Top Gun Maverick” made more money on its 4th weekend than “Barbie” did although it was third on the box office chart that weekend. There are plenty of box office records for “Barbie” – including just recently becoming the highest domestic box office for a movie directed by a woman – so you don’t need to mention records where “Barbie” is “ONE of the top movies”.
I’m guessing there may be some gimmick behind “Barbenheimer” that I haven’t figured out. That’s why there’s so many jumping on the bandwagon (except for Japan). There’s often a gimmick. For example, the “Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes” promotion that a lot of movies and TV shows advertise. The gimmick behind that promotion is that the Rotten Tomatoes website is pass or fail. It doesn’t matter if the review is only slightly positive, it still gets a pass (fresh tomato). If the movie reviewer gives it 7 out of 10 stars – or maybe even 6 out of 10 stars – on the Rotten Tomatoes website that’s still a “fresh” review. If you read some of the “fresh” reviews on the website, you may get the feeling that a reviewer only likes a movie a little bit or likes some parts of the movie and doesn’t like other parts of the movie. The website still calls that a pass or a “fresh” review. That’s why I don’t trust that website.
I would really love if someone would explain to me WHY so many people are on the “Barbenheimer” bandwagon because it looks like they’ll try it again in the future. There are already some people on social media talking about “Wonkapoleon”, although that won’t work since “Wonka” is currently scheduled for release on Dec 15 and Napoleon is scheduled for release almost a month earlier on Nov 22. How about this combo instead: “The Holdorvels” (or “The Marvolders”). The superhero movie “The Marvels” and the dramatic comedy “The Holdovers” are both currently scheduled to be released on Nov 10. One is a fantasy adventure movie about fictional comic book characters and the other is an R rated movie from a notable director (Alexander Payne) – somewhat like the two “Barbenheimer” movies. I wasn’t part of the “Barbenheimer” bandwagon (I only saw “Oppenheimer”) but I would get on that one since I’m planning to see both movies.
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 