July 22 (UPI) — It’s ‘Barbenheimer’ weekend: Early box office numbers Friday show Barbie dominating Oppenheimer for the widespread theatrical release of both films, with many buying tickets to see both.
They are each off to a strong start based on early showings on Wednesday and Thursday. Deadline reported that Barbie earned $22.3 million before the weekend and Oppenheimer, $10.5 million.
As of Wednesday, Variety predicted Barbie would make $100 million over the weekend, with Oppenheimer taking in half of that. Oppenheimer runs three hours, reducing available showtimes, and also does not play to family audiences.
Many moviegoers are planning to see both, some in the same day. The National Association of Theater Owners said as many as 200,000 are expected to hit consecutive showings of the films this weekend. AMC Theaters alone has sold 40,000 tickets to the double feature.
Some theaters are showing Oppenheimer as early as 6 a.m., including TCL Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, or as late as 2:30 a.m., like Cinemark in Dallas, to facilitate demand.
Fans have gotten into the “Barbieheimer” phenomenon, too. Merchants Redbubble and Etsy have been selling T-shirts combining images from the films. One such item features Oppenheimer’s famous quote, “I am become death, destroyer of worlds” in the Barbie font available.
The films offer vastly different experiences. Barbie is as fun as playing with toys was as a child, but writer/director Greta Gerwig also used the property to make a social commentary.
Oppenheimer is a historical epic that goes far beyond The Manhattan Project (but in doing so loses focus and bites off more than it can chew).
Recent Google Trend reports suggest Barbie reaching a wider audience. Since Thursday, searches for Barbie top searches for Oppenheimer.
Queries center around whether Barbie has an extra scene after the credits and the identity of Ruth. Barbie creator Ruth Handler is played by Rhea Perlman in the movie.
Oppenheimer searches inquire about the end credits, but there are no extra scenes after either film ends. The other prominent Oppenheimer search is for Lloyda Martinez.
New Mexico author and journalist Alisa Lynn Valdés began a Twitter thread on Thursday highlighting the Mexican-Americans poisoned by fallout from the Los Alamos bomb tests portrayed in Oppenheimer. Valdés said her mother contracted leukemia from the fallout.
Valdés’ thread also highlights Martinez, a scientist who went to work at Los Alamos after the events of the film. Martinez’s father died of berylliosis, Valdés said.
“Her dad was driven off their family’s land when Oppenheimer and the U.S. government seized it to make the labs,” Valdés tweeted. “They then hired him, made him work with beryllium without protective gear.”
