It should have been an utter disaster. Two of the year’s biggest films, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, are set to be released on the same day.
Although not exactly gunning for the same audience – one being a bright pink fizzy meditation on life and womanhood in Barbieland, and the other, a sombre tale of the complicated and brilliant characters behind the creation of the atomic bomb – cinefiles will be lining up to see both.
There must have been a moment when Oppenheimer’s team were scratching their heads. It’s difficult to compete with the happy buzz whipped up by the idea of Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling running around a life-size Barbieland with half of the biggest names in Hollywood, to a backing track that includes numbers from Ice Spice and Dua Lipa. Particularly when the film you’re trying to sell is about the first nuclear bomb.
But the internet has found the juxtaposition between the two films to be a perfect balance. Barbie is ying, Oppenheimer is yang. Barbie is you on payday, Oppenheimer is you one week later. Barbie is how you feel in the morning before work, Oppenheimer is how you feel after a day at work. And so on.
The colours – Barbie’s bright pink and Oppenheimer’s many greys – make the comparisons all the more stark, and hilarious.
A series of brilliant memes have poured online. The terms “Barbenheimer” and “Boppenheimer” have been adopted to describe the important debates around the films – such as, which should be seen first on July 21? T-shirts have even been designed, with fans working on finding the perfect shades of grey and pink.
Suddenly, the decision to release both films on the same day seems utterly inspired.
Here’s our pick of some of the internet’s best memes.
The Oppenheimer guys realizing that marketing for the Barbie film is also now marketing for their film for some reason pic.twitter.com/iRj2RMAgCV
— obsolete breakfast (@forsorrows) June 28, 2023
Gotta have the date for the occasion pic.twitter.com/9fallCaXA7
— hunta (@NotoraEnt) June 5, 2023
please don’t text me i’m busy wondering how oppenheimer can bomb the malibu barbie house and do the best marketing possible for 21st july pic.twitter.com/XuM3gKXV0N
— aarchi (@okayaarchi) June 29, 2023
I humbly present my Barbie-Oppenheimer 2024 electoral map pic.twitter.com/ULp2WFenQL
— Emmet Sandberg (@SandbergEmmet) June 28, 2023
Their entire lives have led up to the Oppenheimer / Barbie release pic.twitter.com/w2FgLwhDg1
— Yann (@yannhatchuel) June 26, 2023
people seeing barbie first are wild. the schedule needs to be
— trish (@ULTRAGLOSS) June 26, 2023
black coffee and a cigarette
oppenheimer around 11 (its 3 hours)
mimosas and brunch
barbie around 6/7
dinner, drinks, club https://t.co/oRxWJmE2xm
Anyone participating in "Barbenheimer" should see #Oppenheimer first. Trust us on this one.
— NTI (@NTI_WMD) June 29, 2023
Read our full statement ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/DKghTNKXGR
The Barbie/Oppenheimer crossover has begun pic.twitter.com/16zESO1TAY
— Stone Cold Jane Austen (@AbbyHiggs) June 28, 2023
The duality of self in seeing Barbie/Oppenheimer back to back pic.twitter.com/CIXhDvifsT
— Gwdihŵ 🦉 (@youwouldknow) June 28, 2023