The weekend of July 21 will go down as an iconic one in pop culture history. As cinemas across the globe filled up for the Barbie-Oppenheimer – ‘Barbenheimer’ – double feature, it was evident that the marketing and memes had come to fruition.
This isn’t the first time two high budget movies have been released on the same day. But what makes this particular weekend stand out is the cosmic contrast between the two films. Yet, the two movies are about prominent American characters that went on to make waves around the world, in their own, very different ways. Despite all their differences,
‘the fashionable Barbie doll’ and ‘the father of the atomic bomb’ had immense influence on the world that to this date remains etched in the fabric of the world.
Not only the characters iconic, but so are the directors. Christopher Nolan and Greta Gerwig have individual cult followings, parts of which overlap. And so, the meme mania began. Instead of pitting the two films together, they suggested a double feature.
“From weeks before the release of the movies, we were always going to do it,” says 23-year-old Aryaman Utkarsh from Dabolim. “Both films coming out on the same day was an added bonus,” says Ankit Kumar Sharma, a 24-year-old from Siolim.
“The Barbenheimer trend just gave us more of a reason to do this,” Shivam Goyal, also a 23-year-old from Dabolim, says. The debate over the schedule had two sides: ‘Oppenheimer’s sombre notes are countered by ‘Barbie’s razzle-dazzle, which makes for a happier way to end the day, “watching that [Barbie] after a very serious and heavy movie definitely did lighten up our moods,” adds Shivam.
“My friend and I had diverging opinions on this actually,” says Manshi Nagar, a resident of Vasco. “I insisted on Barbie first, since it’s a relatively light-hearted movie, and its colour palette suited the day more than night.”
Schuane Souza, a 25-year-old from Panjim watched ‘Oppenheimer’ second, “Oppenheimer is long, more intense and heavy and being directed by Christopher Nolan – I knew I’d need some time after to process and take it all in,” she says.
The popularity of the films didn’t leave others with any choice. “I had to watch ‘Barbie’ first because all the good seats for ‘Oppenheimer’ were booked,” says Ankit, who had to wait till Sunday, after watching ‘Barbie’ on Friday.
No matter what the order of the films was, they both were generally well-received by the audience.
“Oppenheimer’ managed to make three hours feel necessary, and keeps you engaged throughout despite being 3 hours long, sound design and cinematography was phenomenal,” says Schuane. “Barbie was super funny with a lot of references and a very strong message,” she adds. “Both movies showed how humanity is capable of great compassion but also its own destruction.”
“About ‘Oppenheimer’, I don’t even know where to start and end. I had sky-high expectations from the movie, and it sure did meet all of them, if not surpass them,” says Manshi. “The Barbie set design, cast, message, (almost) everything was top notch; though I was a little disappointed with the ending of the movie, it was all in all an entertaining experience.”
“It was such a unique movie experience to watch two movies directed by two great directors having the star-studded casts that both did,” says Shivam.
“I enjoyed watching both on the same day because they both had great political commentary while being starkly different films,” said 25-year-old Mrinal Borkar from Margao. However, she did think that the hype was a bit much.
Watching the movie on the same day feel was like living a moment in history. “It felt surreal to see so many people dress up for movies, almost looked like a pink-black festival. It felt so much more than just going for a movie, so much grander,” said Manshi. Aryaman felt the same, “It felt like one big cinema event,” he says.
The Barbenheimer feature is being called the revival of cinema, which took a massive economic hit and never truly returned to its prior glory after the pandemic forced it to move to streaming services. Both films exceeded revenue expectations and also went on the make for the 4th biggest weekend in Blockbuster history. ‘Barbie’ made $472,630,780 on a budget of $145,000,000, and ‘Oppenheimer’ made $220,597,617 on a budget of $100,000,000.
“With the kind of movies coming out these days, a good visit to the cinemas has become rare,” says Ankit. “This time I got two in one weekend.”
“I absolutely enjoyed my Barbenheimer experience. The movies have such divergent visuals, tones and themes, however they both ask the same question – what are we doing here?” says Schuane.
Between the two films, ‘Barbie’ ended up earning more, which could have a causal relationship with the one and half hours of escapism that the movie provides. ‘Oppenheimer’ doesn’t have the same kind of lightheartedness that comes with the shades of pink that ‘Barbie’ is. Sitting through a biopic with heavy political undertones about the invention of the atomic bomb, set in possibly one of the darkest times in humanity’s history is not everyone’s cup of tea.
Despite that, the weekend was highly anticipated, and the memes and marketing made sure to make it so. The question that was then asked was: is the double feature worth it? The answer is yes, it absolutely is.
