How the unexpected combination of ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ arised and became a global cultural frenzy

One of the most significant events within the Hollywood movie industry last year was the release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. What was first just a normal campaign for both movies separately, became one of the craziest intertwined promotions referred to as “Barbenheimer”. 

I remember when there was a huge craze in theatres for Avengers: Endgame in 2019, and then once again for Spider-Man: No Way Home in 2021. Avengers: Endgame’s hype was created due to it being the last movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Infinity Saga, which had been in the works for about 10 years. The excitement to watch Spider-Man: No Way Home was due to the anticipated nostalgia the movie would bring out. Both were superhero movies with shared elements and production houses that allowed them to reach the peak of people’s interests. 

This was not the case for Barbenheimer, as they were two standalone movies with no prior franchises to aid with the hype of them – which makes this cultural event so unique.

So how did this all start to unravel? Well, both movies were set to come out on the same date, July 21^st. This initiated the comparison between the two, since people were amused with how much the two movies contrasted each other. Some joked about how people who wanted to watch something more serious should go watch Barbie, and those who wanted to watch something with harmless fun should watch Oppenheimer. People began to pick sides on which one they would be watching and what they thought everyone else should be watching as well. Memes were made about the ordeal, with social media users continuously comparing the two by creating mashups using photo edits. 

Eventually this led to people creating plans about watching both movies on their release date or on the same day. There was debate about when was the right time in the day to watch each movie. Some said Barbie was perfect to watch during the day, while Oppenheimer was more suited for the night. Others said that Oppenheimer was more qualified to watch first with a cup of black coffee, while Barbie would go with a fruity drink in the evening. Ideas about what to wear for each movie began to circulate online, with each upload becoming more creative than the one prior. Plans for the entire day were being shared amongst users, inspiring others on how they should be spending their Barbenheimer. 

Although movies have always been a way for everyone to come together for a good time, the culture created around Barbenheimer turned into a different kind of way people enjoyed each other’s presence while at the movies. So much so that even Greta Gerwig, the director of Barbie, and Margot Robbie, who played Barbie herself, got involved by posing with a ticket to go watch Oppenheimer. Brands such as Uber, Swiggy and Coca-Cola, quickly jumped into the whirlwind by utilizing the attention these two movies were getting to promote their own products and platforms. Barbenheimer became the most popular event of the summer worldwide thanks to the internet. 

Later in December, an Actors-on-Actors interview came out by Variety, which consists of two actors interviewing each other. The two actors in this interview were Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy, the main leads of Barbie and Oppenheimer, respectively. This caused the Barbenheimer craze to heighten once again, as viewers anticipated the release of the interview. The two actors concluded that if it were not for the audiences’ self-generated thrill over pairing the two movies as a double feature viewing, it would not have become the cultural phenomenon we reminisce on when daydreaming about this past summer. 

Due to the success of Barbenheimer at the box office, I do believe we will be seeing studios trying to replicate it with future movies to come. However, I do not think that they could outdo the hype surrounding Barbenheimer since it was the awaiting viewers who made it into the hard-to-miss pop culture occasion all on their own. That’s the beauty of the internet: it picks and chooses what deserves attention organically. It is safe to say that this time, the internet chose right.