This summer’s greatest cinematic question: A movie based on Ruth Handler’s culturally iconic children’s play toy worldwide, versus a biographical thriller based on the ‘Father of the atomic bomb’ by the cinematic genius, Christopher Nolan. Who wins?
On July 21st, two highly anticipated films will be released in theatres: Christopher Nolan’s biographical thriller based on the scientist credited with the development of the first nuclear weapon, Oppenheimer; and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, a fantasy comedy in which the beloved world-renowned doll ventures out of a world of her own making and into the real world.
Oppenheimer v/s Barbie
Two very big projects are being talked about here, yet, the only names that come to mind as having been pitted against each other are that of Cillian Murphy and Margot Robbie.
The clash is also rarer than usual – with two heavy-budget, massive box office potential projects having been pit against one another. There is something very telling of how brutal it could really be for either.
Almost as if it were a tradition, studios have for years been inclined towards a one-big-film-per-week release approach, particularly during the high-stakes summer movie season.
Nolan’s Oppenheimer is based on the life of J. Robert Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy, and the trailer provides a glimpse into Oppenheimer’s intellect and essentially a peek into the historical Manhattan Project, which is credited with the development of the world’s first nuclear weapon consequentially setting an irreversible precedent for the rest of the world forever.
Twitterati have gone crazy since the teaser was published, with many comparing it to the newly released Barbie, featuring Margot Robbie in the lead role. Barbie, according to one user, “clears Oppenheimer by miles.”
The root cause of it all
According to sources, Warner Bros. might have scheduled the release date for Barbie out of spite. Oppenheimer, which reportedly cost about $100 million in production, will be Nolan’s first collaboration with Universal Studios, after having a sound history of working with Warner Bros. in the past. The fact that both Oppenheimer and Barbie are in theatres on the same day has since received a lot of public and media attention, since the logic behind this choice was previously unknown.
According to the folks at Puck, Warner Bros. Discovery supposedly planned the release for the Gerwig film on the same day as Nolan’s Oppenheimer as a “middle finger” to both – Christopher Nolan and Universal Studios. Nolan ended his once booming partnership with Warner Bros. in 2021 after openly criticizing the their shift to a day-and-date release strategy (making a film available on multiple platforms, including theaters, streaming services, and video on demand, on the same day. This approach has become more common in recent years, especially due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the film industry) for much of its 2021 slate, and the studio is allegedly unhappy with Universal Studio’s newly developed partnership with the filmmaker.
Source: Puck
