More Than 20,000 Real Movie Fans Have Already Booked Barbie And Oppenheimer Double Features

Greta Gerwig's seemingly light fantasy "Barbie" and Christopher Nolan's seemingly terse biopic "Oppenheimer" are both being released on July 21, 2023. On the surface, they serve as programming counterpoints, with one being a toy-friendly entertainment for kids, and the other being an Oscar-bait contemplation of humankind's capacity for self-destruction. The kids can go see "Barbie," while the parents take in "Oppenheimer." 

As it happens, the counterprogramming didn't work as the honchos at Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures might have imagined. Because "Barbie" was directed by the thoughtful and interesting Gerwig, and "Oppenheimer" was made by film-school hero Nolan, the Venn diagram of people interested in both pictures overlaps a considerable amount. In the lead-up to the two films' releases, many have posited what kind of double feature "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" might make, with some referring to the films as "Barbenheimer." The two films are now one. One can even buy unauthorized "Barbenheimer" T-shirts online in anticipation. Double features are now being frantically arranged by antsy cineastes, eager to see how Nolan's and Gerwig's movies reflect on one another. "Barbie" is 114 minutes. "Oppenheimer" is 180. Audiences are happy to make it an all-day sucker. 

Indeed, as was recently reported in Variety, AMC Theaters — looking at the purchases from their Stubs Members — has already booked over 20,000 two-in-one-day screenings for the two films' opening weekend. It seems the programmers at AMC were wise enough to stagger the two films in such a way that they can be watched in a single sitting. These seemingly opposite movies are unwittingly catering to the same crowd.

According to Variety, there wasn't a lot of data as to which other movies have been overwhelmingly paired in such a fashion. Often, when a major blockbuster is nigh, other films tend to get out of their way, allowing the singular tentpole to open unopposed. That one film will attract all the media and audience attention for one week, while only smaller movies — presumably with a completely different audience — open opposite them. It's rare that a blockbuster and its counterprogramming reach a similar fever pitch. It would take a lot of scanning through AMC's box office receipts to discover which artificially constructed double feature was as successful as this one seems to be. It's also notable that AMC only counted information from the members of its Stubs rewards program (which includes A-List, Premiere, and a free tier and tracks single-buyer purchases), and apparently had no way of tracking which casual buyers are merely buying two tickets for themselves in the open market. 

Of course, part of the issue is parsing out which film between "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" counts as "the blockbuster" and which as "the counterprogramming." Both films seem to loom large in the pop consciousness, and both are hotly anticipated. 

And indeed, the two films may have more in common than one might assume at first glance. "Oppenheimer" takes place around 1945 during the earliest atomic bomb tests. The effect of the bomb on American culture was dark and forward-thinking at the same time. The bomb could now effectively remove cities from the world map, but also ushered in a curiously optimistic 1950s where it seemed like nuclear energy would fuel a grand future for America and the world. "Barbie," meanwhile, is about a personified toy from 1959 that directly reflected the idealized pop images that 1950s America had created for its women. 

More people seem interested in "Barbie," as, according to Variety, it is tracking to have a more lucrative opening weekend. That number may be driven by the respective films' lengths: A three-hour film is simply going to run fewer times in a day than a two-hour one. Variety also only reported on same-day ticket sales, and not on same-weekend sales. There may be any number of people who intend to see one half of "Barbenheimer" on Friday and the second half on Saturday. 

Variety also did not report on which film was being watched first. I would be interested to know if people are leading with the potentially dour biopic and chasing it with the colorful comedy, or vice versa. The construction of the double feature may be dictated by the disposition of the ticket buyer. Is it better to lead light and go heavy, contemplating profundities, or is it better to get the "heady" stuff out of the way and chase it with a lot of pink? 

Personally, in terms of tonal preference, I would want to see "Oppenheimer" second as leaving the theater bummed out is a more exhilarating experience for me than leaving in a bubbly mood. Historically, however, the opposite may make more logical sense. One film is about the start of the nuclear age. The other is about its inevitable cultural consequences. It doesn't take a very sophisticated sociologist to link the explosion of the first nuclear bomb to the creation of plastics, toys, and their accompanying consumer culture. 

Which one are you seeing first? Tom Cruise has already decided. Have you?