Over a single weekend, 28-year-old Toronto resident Daniel Konikoff will experience two life-changing events. On July 23, he’s getting married. Two days before, he’s going to the movies with his bride-to-be and their entire wedding party for a double feature of Greta Gerwig’s very pink romp “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s extremely dark historical drama “Oppenheimer.”
“It stemmed from a joke, and then we started to actually create a plan,” Konikoff says. “So, the double bill is a little wedding-adjacent party.” As soon as the second movie lets out at 1 a.m. — “it’s bed!” he adds. “And then we drive to the venue. There’s not a lot of sleep, but you gotta do what you gotta do.”
Konikoff and company are among the merry band of movie lovers who are leaning into the social media frenzy known as “Barbenheimer” by planning back-to-back screenings of the two seemingly different films with twin release dates. That’s right: The countless memes, fan art and apparel has turned into a real-world phenomenon. Two weeks before opening day on July 21, AMC Theatres reported that 20,000 people have purchased tickets to see “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” on the same day.
“This may only be the beginning,” says AMC Theatres executive Elizabeth Frank.
At a glance, the audience overlap isn’t clear. “Oppenheimer,” starring Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr. and Emily Blunt, is a somber character study about the theoretical physicist who led the development of the atomic bomb. “Barbie,” featuring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, is a neon-hued fantasy comedy about Barbie-Land expats who go on a quest for self-discovery in the real world. Visually, “Oppenheimer” is moody and intense, while “Barbie” is a physical manifestation of the color pink. Yet the contrast is the very thing that’s galvanizing film lovers.
“This could have been something dividing the masses, but instead it’s bringing everyone together,” says Nicole Boisseau, a 21-year-old Richmond, Va. student. Her dad, Jay Boisseau, who also has tickets to both films on opening weekend, says that jokes aside, the mismatched scheduling works out for viewers. “Since they are so different, it’s not like you’re going to spend six hours watching the same thing,” he notes.
But Nicole Boisseau believes the movies have more in common than meets the eye. “They’re both questioning the nature of humanity.” (She’s serious. During one hilarious scene in the “Barbie” trailer, Margot Robbie’s life-size doll turns to her friends at a dance party to ask: “Do you guys ever think about dying?”)
One crucial matter, however, is driving people apart — and that’s the order in which to watch the double feature. Is it better to end with “Barbie” and leave the marathon movie day on a high? Will the inevitable existential crisis that follows a screening of “Oppenheimer” hit differently in broad daylight? In constructing the optimal viewing experience, no detail — from outfit choices to snacks and beverage options for fuel in between showings (“Oppenheimer” runs at three hours; “Barbie” clocks in just under two) — is insignificant.
“We didn’t want to see ‘Oppenheimer’ too early in the day because we thought it would be jarring,” Kadija Osman, a 22-year-old Toronto resident, says. After the 2 p.m. screening of Nolan’s film lets out, she and her friend are decompressing with “mocktails and Diet Coke.” Then it’s back to the theater for a “Barbie”-sized palate cleanser. She adds, “We may get dessert after because, visually, ‘Barbie’ is dessert.”
Cinemas have been joining in the excitement, offering pink beer and setting up “Barbie”-themed photo ops in the lobby. There’s less fun to be had with “Oppenheimer,” which may be best accompanied with cigarettes and black coffee or a martini to cope with the bleak subject matter (that healthy trifecta was said to comprise J. Robert Oppenheimer’s diet while he labored on the bomb at Los Alamos). But at the Texas-based Flix Brewhouse chain, there’s an economical incentive to embracing “Barbenheimer.” Brave patrons who watch both films on opening weekend will receive a free movie ticket to redeem at a later date.
“We’ve been planning for months,” says chief revenue officer Chris Randleman. “We have enough screens to accommodate everyone.”
A box office showdown between heavyweights like “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” isn’t unprecedented in the middle of summer blockbuster season. But theories abound about why the battle of the bomb versus the bombshell has turned into the film event of the year.
Some cinephiles believe it’s because the two filmmakers inspire a particular kind of loyalty in their fans. Nolan, who has delivered commercial winners like “The Dark Knight,” “Inception” and “Interstellar,” and Gerwig, the indie favorite behind “Lady Bird” and “Little Women,” are the rare directors who can draw audiences on their name alone.
“It comes down to the filmmakers, who are widely respected. They complement each other in a weird way,” says Meredith Loftus, 30, of Los Angeles. She compared the scheduling to an unusual double-header in 2008 of Nolan’s superhero epic “The Dark Knight” and the kitschy musical “Mamma Mia!,” which opened on the same day.
“I was in high school then, so I didn’t have money in my bank account to see them. I missed out on the phenomenon,” she says. “So when these tickets came out, I thought, ‘I have to take advantage of it.’ It’s a rare cinematic moment.”
Others point to the humor in the stark juxtaposition of the tone, style and, well, everything else about the two films.
“It just seems funny because they’re such different movies,” Karol Nowak, a 25-year-old Queens native, says. He and his comrades are trekking to AMC’s Lincoln Square to catch “Oppenheimer” in 70mm Imax — the way Nolan prefers all of his films to be seen — before traveling to the chain’s Times Square location for “Barbie,” with a pit stop at Dallas BBQ for its signature Texas-sized cocktails. A shot and chaser, if you will.
“This wouldn’t be the case if it were ‘Oppenheimer’ and ‘Mission: Impossible,’” he says. “They’re benefiting from the strangeness. I’m not sure if that was planned by the studios.”
(It wasn’t — well, not entirely. The irony here is that Universal is releasing “Oppenheimer,” marking the first time in Nolan’s career that he’s not working with Warner Bros., the studio that’s backing “Barbie.” The director severed decadeslong ties with Warner Bros. after the botched release of 2020’s mind-bender “Tenet,” as well as the studio’s ill-fated decision to put its entire 2021 movie slate simultaneously on HBO Max. After Nolan took “Oppenheimer” across the street to Universal, the team at Warner Bros. just so happened to plant its most-hyped blockbuster on the same weekend. The result? A bold test of counterprogramming.)
“Barbenheimer” has even gone global. Noelia Nigro, 28, initially feared the movies wouldn’t debut simultaneously in Buenos Aires, where she lives. (Hollywood films don’t always have the same international and domestic release dates.) She and her moviegoing squad let out a cheer when “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” did, indeed, land on schedule in Argentina.
The rarity of the double feature, Nigro says, is enough to offset the cost of buying tickets and enough concession stand snacks to last through two movies.
“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” she says. “We couldn’t possibly choose between them.”
