by Tom Hartig on July 19, 2023

"Oppenheimer" vs. "Barbie": The battle begins! For months, the world has been waiting for the simultaneous release of these two opposing films last Friday: the birth of the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon.

On the one hand, there's the historical drama "Oppenheimer" by Christopher Nolan: Three hours long, powerful images, partly in black and white, and an enormous cast of character actors around lead actor Cillian Murphy. On the other hand, the brightly colorful, ironically funny plastic adventure "Barbie" by Greta Gerwig, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. Two movies that couldn't be any more different - so why are they lumped together?

Kevon Kodama from Movieweb.com explains the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon as follows: Here, the "beef" known from hip-hop comes into play: People love it when two rivals compete against each other - be it rappers, politicians or Johnny Depp against Amber Heard. You can compare them, discuss wildly about who's better and, last but not least, contribute to the success of your favorite using your own wallet.

"Oppenheimer" and "Barbie" are particularly suitable for a fight, since they represent completely different things: Gerwig's movie comes across as particularly feminine, modern and commercial: on the one hand it's packed with clichés, while on the other it's loving and has a positive message. Nolan's biopic set against the background of World War 2, however, is shot in an old-fashioned way and stands for traditional, vintage and masculine cinema.

"Oppenheimer" was primarily released by Universal Pictures because Nolan's longstanding partnership with Warner Bros. had previously fallen apart. The main cause was that they released his film "Tenet" against his will in streaming at the same time as its theatrical release. Rumors spread that Warner Bros. was taking revenge by releasing its pink "Barbie" toy movie on the same day as "Oppenheimer" - the ideal scenario for some proper beef.

After all, hardly anyone is taking the dispute between the two movies all that seriously: the fans have shown a sense of humor and produced countless memes and fan trailers, the actors and directors are posing with movie tickets for both films, and even the studios will be pleased that "Barbenheimer" has boosted sales. So: a happy ending for all involved.