Barbenheimer

I guess I'll start out with the logistics. Barbenheimer is a portmanteau* for "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer," two movies that are set to release on the same day, July 21, 2023.

*a word blending the sounds and combining the meanings of two others, for example motel (from ‘motor’ and ‘hotel’) or brunch (from ‘breakfast’ and ‘lunch’). - Oxford Dictionary

Movies with big names attached to them have often clashed on release day, and generally, people tend to take sides... Let me rewind.

Barbie (2023) is directed by Greta Gerwig and distributed by Warners Bros. Pictures. It had a budget of $145,000,000, and it stars Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken. Other stars, such as Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, and Anne Hathaway, are attached to the film.

Despite being named after a children's toy, Gerwig directed this movie for adult audiences. Barbie is meant to be humorous and packed with nostalgia. The main premise is that Barbie and Ken leave Barbie Land for the human world, where they learn it's not all it's cracked up to be. This film is rated PG-13 and has a run time of 1 hour 54 minutes.

Greta Gerwig is known for movies such as Frances Ha (2012), Lady Bird (2017), and Little Women (2019). She's 49 years old with 3 Oscar Nominations: One for Little Women, and two for Lady Bird. She won Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2020 Critics' Choice Movie Awards for Little Women.

Oppenheimer (2023) is directed by Christopher Nolan and distributed by Universal Pictures. It had a budget of $100,000,000, and it stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, an American theoretical physicist who contributed greatly to the creation of the atom bomb. Other stars, such as Robert Downey Jr., Florence Pugh, and Emily Blunt, are attached to the film.

Oppenheimer is a biopic that explores events that led up to the creation of the nuclear bomb during World War II and the fallout after the fact. (Hehe, see what I did there. It's based on the book American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. This film is rated R and has a run time of a whopping 3 hours.

Christopher Nolan is known for movies such as Memento (2002), The Dark Night (2008), Inception (2010), and Interstellar (2014). He's 52 years old with 5 Oscar Nominations: One for Memento, two for Inception, and two for Dunkirk (2017). He's won five American Film Institute Movies of the Year Awards.

That's all fine and good, but what is Barbenheimer and when did it start?

I first noticed Barbie and Oppenheimer trending separately at the beginning of this year. Barbie was being touted as a movie for the "girls, the gays, and the theys," while Oppenheimer was "for the boys." All good fun, internet memes.

There was a lot of chatter about which movie will do better at the Box Office during the opening weekend since they had the same release date. It started good faith Twitter feuds between users as they began to take sides for their movie of choice. Many began defending the movie they thought would be better basing their arguments on the directors, the stars, the premises, etc.

Then, all of a sudden, both worlds began to collide. Chatter about seeing both movies in one day started up, and the Barbenheimer double feature took the internet by storm with memes popping up left and right.

Many of the jokes had to do with outfit changes between movies, highlighting the juxtaposition between the theme and mood of both films.

Even brands and professional sports teams are getting in on the fun.

There have also been a number of arguments as to which order people should be watching these movies:

I, for one, am very excited about this premier, even if I'm hopping on the bandwagon here. I won't be able to see it opening weekend, but I am planning on making it a double feature during the coming weeks.

For context, I haven't been to the movie theater in YEARS. Probably before the pandemic. I can't even remember the last movie I saw on the big screen. But this promotion, whether planned or not, has me hooked!

By the way, the only right way to see this double feature is Oppenheimer then Barbie. Oppenheimer is going to be heavy. Barbie can act like a palette cleanser after the fact. Plus, Oppenheimer is three hours long! I'd personally rather get the long movie out of the way (not that it's in the way, you know what I mean), and then see the shorter movie.

Will you be participating in Barbenheimer 2023?

If so, what movie first?

Link the funniest Barbenheimer memes you've seen in the comment section below.

Thanks for reading!