The backstory on the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon is that Christopher Nolan had long found a home at Warner Bros, from 2002 up until the pandemic. During the pandemic, Warner Bros dumped many of their new releases on their streaming platform, HBO Max. Nolan and many other directors and actors slammed Warner Bros’ decision, and Nolan got especially spicy about it, saying this on the record: “Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service.” After that, Nolan left Warner Bros and Oppenheimer was made at Universal. As a screw-you to Nolan, Warner Bros waited until they saw what release date Universal claimed for Oppenheimer, then Warner Bros scheduled Barbie’s release for the same day. So, Barbenheimer came out of significant drama, even though the casts of both films took pains to celebrate each other’s work. Well, reportedly, Nolan’s ass still hurts about it.
Christopher Nolan was reportedly ‘upset’ that Warner Bros chose to release Barbie at the same time as his thriller Oppenheimer. Despite the Barbenheimer (a playful hybrid of Barbie and Oppenheimer) phenomenon continuing to grow – the 52-year-old director was reportedly less than impressed.
‘Summer, in a healthy marketplace, is always crowded, and we’ve been doing this a long time,’ he recently told IGN. ‘I think for those of us who care about movies, we’ve been really waiting to have a crowded marketplace again, and now it’s here and that’s terrific.’
But sources close to the director said ‘Nolan wasn’t nearly as diplomatic in his stance behind the scenes,’ according to Insider. The publication claimed ‘Nolan was upset that Warner Bros scheduled Barbie for release on the same weekend as Oppenheimer, especially since mid-July has been known in the movie business as “Nolan’s weekend” for years.’
There was reportedly an attempt by the movie-theater community to get the Warner Bros studio to move the Barbie release date – but it ultimately would not budge.
Despite the ongoing rumblings, earlier this year Variety said the new heads of Warner Bros, Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, wanted Nolan to return. It claimed that the executives had sent Nolan a seven-figure royalty in relation to Tenet in an attempt to re-build a bridge and lure him back.
Last week, Nolan was asked if he planned to see Barbie and he said a “curt ‘no’.” So, yeah, I believe this. I believe he’s still mad and that this is all some big studio beef. It’s hilarious though, and I have to admit… it’s well-played by Warner Bros. While they might want Nolan back, they’re not acting like it. They’re acting like they’re fine with gleefully burning that bridge. It must kill Nolan to see his cast and Barbie’s cast be so gracious towards each other too. Before the strike, Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, RDJ, Margot Robbie and everyone else leaned into the Barbenheimer thing. Not Nolan. LMAO.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.
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- Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan at the Oppenheimer UK Premiere at Odeon Luxe in Leicester Square, London, United Kingdom on 13 July 2023.,Image: 788957349, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Cat Morley / Avalon
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- Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan at the Oppenheimer film premiere at The Odeon Luxe, Leicester Square in London, UK, on 13th July 2023,Image: 788962936, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: James Shaw / Avalon
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- Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy at the Oppenheimer movie photocall, Trafalgar Square, London, UK in London, UK, on 12th July 2023,Image: 789053822, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Credit line: Avalon.red / Avalon
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- London, UNITED KINGDOM – Celebrities attend the UK Premiere of ‘Oppenheimer’ held at Odeon Luxe, Leicester Square, London. Pictured: Christopher Nolan BACKGRID USA 13 JULY 2023 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Oppenheimer Premiere held at Grand Rex in Paris, France. Featuring: Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr, Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt and Christopher Nolan When: 11 Jul 2023 Credit: Abaca Press/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
I plan on seeing Barbie in the theater and renting Oppenheimer. I want Barbie to win the weekend. Its a little petty but whatever.
SAME. Barbie opened here in Europe before the US and I went to see it last night. FYI it’s terrific and I can’t wait to talk about it here.
Ooh that’s great to hear. I’ve been avoiding reviews and we have our tickets booked for Monday.
Some of the reviews are going to be brutal and I expect a Barbie backlash. There are already articles calling it an anti-man film, a product of ˋwoke feminism’. Having seen it I know some people are going to hate it.
I know WB are the ´bad guys’ but I’m here to support women directors and producers and hope the film does well.
Oppenheimer is a Fall/Winter film. Whoever picked July as the release date needs to be retrained on marketing films.
I understand why Nolan is mad at Warner Bros. but the fact that he can’t put on a public face and help support his fellow industry workers during a time when theaters need ticket buyers and studios need proof that they should keep putting movies in theaters (instead of streamers) shows he needs an attitude adjustment.
His films tend to be released in July. Tenet was September but the pandemic screwed everything up there, I cant remember its original release. I looked at a few of his moves over the past 5-10 years and only Interstellar was released in the fall (November.) Dunkirk, Inception, Dark Knight, Dark Knight Rises – all July release dates. I think he must like July?
Big respect for Christopher Nolan!
And big respect for American Prometheus basis.
But I probably won’t see Oppenheimer in theater with uninspired casting of insipid Emily Blunt as Kitty Oppenheimer. Sorry, not sorry.
Meanwhile, intrigued by Barbie, sounds interesting.
It’s generally known that studios respect each other calendars for blockbuster dates. And will move dates so everyone has a weekend to shine. But this was a genuine F U to Nolan competing directly with Barbie.
Personally, I will wait for the Oppenheimer sequel, Oppenheimer II: The Fat Man and Little Boy Electric Boogaloo
But since he apparently wanted WB to change the date for Barbie, what I don’t get is:
why didn’t he just change the Oppenheimer date instead?
And “mid-July is Nolan’s time” is NOT an acceptable answer, when that last happened in 2017. He comes across as an entitled crybaby here.
Also, given the (literal) receipts we are seeing from actors and writers on strike, how can a studio just “decide” to pay a major royalty after-the-fact to a director they want to win back? Was it payment he was actually owed, in which case…they had to pay him that, or do they actually have millions of dollars sitting around that they absolutely could pay out to actors and writers instead of trying to screw them over, but they choose to reserve it for things like this?!
I’m just guessing he had his date on the calendar first. And Barbie chose the same to hurt his ticket sales. Since he historically releases his movies in July thinking WB would respect the date.
But agree with others, Oppenheimer is a fall/winter movie and probably would have helped Oscar’s chances for the movie and actors. Assuming the strike is over by then.
Chris Nolan should be well aware that summer is a blockbuster movie season. If he did not want Oppenheimer to go up against a blockbuster, he was free to have it released at a less competitive time. Sure, WB probably is messing with CN, but Barbie is a very different movie aimed at a different demographic. CN comes across as sulky here.
But Nolan makes blockbusters. Three Batman and four non-Batman films he’s directed have made more than $350 million at the box office each (5 of the 7 $500 million or more). And the studios generally agree to give other blockbusters some room, and any counter programming would be a kids movie or horror or something like that.
I guess this a kind of karma in a way because Tom Cruise and Paramount is miffed at Nolan because the MI film only got one week on IMAX screens because Oppenheimer is going to gobble them up for the next few weeks.
Dutch, I understand that CN has made blockbusters, however, Barbie is a totally different type of movie than Oppenheimer. I saw it with friends, our children and our teenagers’ friends. How many fun movies aimed at women, with majority women speaking about issues that impact women have there been that are blockbuster worthy? Nolan has made several movies—especially ones filmed with more male than female acters and ones that deal with a conflicted male main character. Like Oppenheimer actually. His upsetness reads as sort of privileged to me, especially when he’s had his successes and female directors aren’t given the same opportunities.
Oooh, up until now people hadn’t mentioned the part about the studio doing it on purpose. Now his anger is understandably more legitimate, though I think at this point…unwarranted? The dual release date seems to actually be helping both movies. I know many people who are planning to see both on the same day. Oppenheimer was never going to be a film that did as well as a fun, campy flick like Barbie, but I definitely think it’ll do BETTER since Barbie is out.
Exactly. I think Oppenheimer is what stands to benefit from the same-release date, not the other way around. As others have said, O. is not a July movie. Barbie absolutely is. Everyone I know has been excited about Barbie since before anyone knew anything more than Barbie-Greta-Margot-Ryan movie. But most people felt they could wait to see O. when it streamed.
The fun of the Barbieheimer double feature promo is absolutely what is getting most people I know to buy a ticket for O. in the theaters, when they could be seeing other fun summer stuff instead.
The studio doing it on purpose is petty and I think he has the right to be salty at that. It doesnt sound like he’s mad at Cillian Murphy for hanging out with Margot Robbie or whatever.
I think the cross promotion is benefiting both movies honestly. There are a lot of people I know who would barely track that there was a Barbie movie coming out but they know the term “Barbieheimer”. I think it helps that the movies are so different, there’s a competition for tickets but its not a direct competition. and I think both will do well long term, although I think Oppenheimer will end up having more staying power. But I think a lot of people may see Barbie this weekend and then see Oppenheimer, especially considering the reviews its getting.
I love movies and the arts, they helped raise me but some of the egos of these directors is just pathetic. He’s so arrogant. Why would they wait to release a film because Nolan has assumed his ‘Nolan weekend?’ What a clown.
I am siding with Nolan on this one. He gave Warner many blockbusters, whether you like his type of movies or not. Nolan also understands that the actors are supporting their peers in Barbie and they might also have projects in the queue with Warner. Nolan is mad at Warner and not at the actors. He loves actors. He was betrayed by Warner and one of his movie starring the awesome John David Washington suffered from Warner’s bad decision of streaming the movie the same day as the release. That hurts Washington the most because Nolan is already an established and Washington is on his way to be a major star in my opinion.
Agreed. And to anyone siding with Warner Brothers, which is teaming up with Netflix to destroy actors’ and writers’ lives and the business at large?… I’m over you.
Come on. The studios and their exploitative shittiness is a major problem, but let’s not pretend that the inflated egos of bigwigs like Spielberg and Nolan who still operate on business models from 10 years ago aren’t also contributing to the problems of theatre releases and their quality. And a good example of that is Nolan getting angry at another major theatre release that will actually get tickets sold because it encroached on “his” weekend.
I agree that Nolan has every right to be annoyed. This move by Warner bros was done to sabotage him. Even if Oppenheimer is a huge financial success, which I’m sure it will be, if it comes second to Barbie on opening weekend, then it will have “lost” the battle. Ironically I think the two films will end up making even more money due to this friendly rivalry as I seems to be dragging people back to the cinema.
WB is trash, but he should be taking a victory lap right now. Combined box office for this week is looking to be 300+ million, and I guarantee the Barbenheimer memes helped push even more of the sales for Oppenheimer AND Barbie across unexpected demographics. If I were him, I’d be rubbing it in their face lol. Their sabotage backfired completely.
Maybe this explains why he was in Fox News this morning promoting his movie.
I’ll see both of these in the theatre, and I think each movie is actually benefitting from the double-release. BUT, I’m team Nolan on this one — as the current strikes are revealing, studios are even more greedy and petty than we knew, so this is a pretty crappy thing for WB to do to get back at one person.
Times are different from when Nolan’s movies would be released in summer to major blockbuster fanfare. And his biggest ones that were summer releases weren’t about the production of one of the worst and most depressing inventions of mankind.
I’m not 100 percent convinced this movie should have even been made. I think it can be a 2 things true at once thing where it’s an important and fascinating piece of history that doesn’t necessarily need to be turned into a cinematic event, particularly as I don’t think anyone who should be learning from it will.
Nevertheless, it looks gorgeous and I’m sure will do very well.
I actually think this is a very salient film to be made right now. We’re seeing a lot of cultural and economic instability across the globe, not to mention the Ukraine-Russian war. It’s a good time to remind people of the depravity we’re capable of with modern technology in war. Not everybody needs to take the right lesson from it — only enough.
I was just talking about this with our company reps the other day and we all agreed that this was one of the best things for Oppenheimer. They didn’t have to do *a thing* for marketing which is huge. Pining two complete opposite massive movies against each other was the best PR they could have ever asked for and Nolan didn’t have to lift a finger. (I’m actually pretty sure that’s why he’s so mad is because the attention isn’t solely on him, but come on…)
SM coined Barbieheimer and it has made the movie bigger than it would have been IMO. I have seen tons of marketing for Barbie and very little for Oppenheimer.
Nolan sounds so bitter and jealous about this whole scenario when he really should be grateful that his film is getting THIS much attention, which no, I don’t think they would have gotten with a different release date.
If anyone should be bitter it’s Tom Cruise and the sad rollout of his latest movie which most of us have conveniently forgotten about…
He shouldn’t be too mad. He bashed them and left. Yes, he was right to bash them but they built him. Warner bros gave him mid-July as his week. That takes a lot of work to get the other studios on board. So Warners is playfully messing with him. It’s two different movies. They will play well together cause aunt will see oppenheimer while cousin sees barbie.
In this particular case, I agree. He has a right to his opinion but he can’t expect that everything is just going to be arranged for him in perpetuity.
Sorry, but Barbie is just better for a mid-July release. Business is business. And honestly, yes, I wouldn’t have seen much of this film anywhere if not for Barbie promo helping it…
Oppenheimer should be watched because it’s world history.
Barbie should be watched because it’s world history.
Both films premiering on the same date illustrates the beautiful fact of life: Oppenheimer and Barbie exist in the same world.
I consider Nolan to be a uniquely amazing director. As I do consider Margot to be a phenomenal businesswoman. Will be watching both, and the meme where Barbie and Oppenheimer watch the bomb exploding from their house says it all. The promotion worked in favour for both films.
And also, I would guess that the overlap between the two target audiences is relatively small. I want to see both, but my husband wants to see Oppenheimer and the majority of my girlfriends want to see Barbie.
It’s not like Oppenheimer had a scheduled release date and another studio decided to release a movie about the Vietnam War the same weekend.
I think there’s actually a huge overlap. I know friends in the US that will be going to both on opening day. I saw Barbie first but will definitely see Oppenheimer later. I took my non girly daughter and husband and they both loved it. We need to get over the whole “girl film” thing.
There is definitely overlap. I saw Oppenheimerast night and am definitely looking forward to seeing Barbie.
I’ll see both at the cinema but with two different mates. Asked my daughter if she wanted to see Barbie but she said she is making her boyfriend take her. Kind of payback for all the action/kung fu flicks she’s had to watch hehe.
Meanwhile, Tom Cruise is booking every IMAX theater in the world for an entire month so MI Dead Reckoning Part II doesn’t get shoved out for whatever Nolan’s next project is
Christopher Nolan won’t have anything ready for next summer. He usually goes about three years between films. So I can see why he sweats the release of each one.
I have to laugh at my own bad memory. I was reading all this thinking What does he have to get so high and mighty over? And then I immediately remembered “Batman.” LOL. Everyone in that town is so incredibly petty. I do think you have to have an incredible ego to become a successful director, though. It’s partly a matter of everyone in the business now having a similarly sized monster id. Before the business side of things did stick to making money. At least more than they do now.
Charlie Chaplin used to do this, take years between releases, and United Artists would suffer. He fought a lot with executives about it, even as his approaches stopped working with the advent of sound (which irrevocably changed things like streaming has.)
Team Nolan on this.
His movies are huge moneymakers, “serious” films, generally winning awards and terrific reviews.
I’m certain Oppenheimer was years in the making, etc.
Nolan sees his film opening as Events.
Most Directors do, even the less talented ones.
The studio seems to be snubbing him a bit.
The studio should have given Oppenheimer a huge release by itself instead of opening it On.The.Same.Day. as Barbie and is MI:part 90 opening next week?
Three huge movies all completing for box office in 10 days, is poor marketing to me.
I do think Oppenheimer is the one to see in theaters tho.
Barbie can easily be streamed. No interest in MI at all.
Totally disagree about Barbie. The set decoration is an absolute marvel. Definitely something to see in the theater.
I’m going to see both at the drive-in and it’s hard to wait. Fingers crossed it’s a double feature, not separate weekends.
I saw Oppenheimer last night at an early screening. It’s a great film and definitely should be seen on a big screen.
You know saying that someone’s butt or ass is hurt is a homophobic slur, right?
Honestly had no idea. Thank you for the information.
While this is funny it is also another example of how WB will cut off its nose to spite its face. They have a long history of being incredibly disrespectful and downright nasty to their talent see: Cavill, Zack Snyder, the entire cast of BatGirl and its makers, Ray Fisher, the list goes on and on. Nolan has made that studio a LOT of money. And so while I think Barbie will do well for them I think pissing Nolan off will hurt them in the long run. And it shows how incredibly short-sighted they continue to be. David Zaslav ain’t the brightest.
Ameerah, 100% agree. Well said.
I do wonder what next for Nolan?
Oppenheimer is such serious subject matter.
I’ll watch every film Chris Nolan is connected with.
For me, Barbie will be fine for streaming, on repeat until the kid says enough.
If she wants it, she is getting it. 😁
Btw, I do really love how CM, RDJ, MD, and the cast are all so lovely and backing Barbie.
Thankfully, no one asked Cillian if he is planning to go see MI in the theater. LOL
The death stare from him on that, I betcha.
I had this conversation with a group of men and women of various ages yesterday and we agreed that Nolan and Gerwig are both benefiting. A number of us wouldn’t be seeing Oppenheimer, even as Nolan fans, if it weren’t for the promise of a Barbenheimer double feature. We expect to need the palate cleanser. Some of the young men weren’t planning on seeing Barbie, but now are because of the Barbenheimer cultural moment. Nolan obviously thinks of Oppenheimer as yet another of his auteur’s blockbusters. he’s devoted himself to it James Cameron style and is releasing it in July, but given the subject matter, there’s a whiff of the tasteless about it. The camp associated with the Barbie marketing is helping to lift that a bit.
Nolan’s not wrong about Warner Brothers in general, but he’s also a notorious grump. I can’t afford to be upset when he’s upset or life would lose all joy.
I am doing Barbiehiemer. I probably would have seen Barbie in theaters and Oppenheimer when it was streaming, and I know a lot of other people doing the same 🤷🏾♀️
I haven’t understood this from the beginning. I feel like these films aren’t catering to the same audience, or they’re catering to the same audience in a different context. You’re not taking your young kids to see Oppenheimer, so what difference does it make if you see Oppenheimer on Friday night and take the kids to Barbie at the Sunday matinee?
Now, I’m an Xer and have sworn off movie theaters. I love my couch, 4K tv, and dog snuggles. I am a tad annoyed that studios have returned to theatrical only releases, but I think the strike will put the final nail in that coffin. My town had 4 movie theaters pre-pandemic. It now has one. That one should absolutely stay in business to give teens and families a fun experience, but Oppenheimer is the kind of film us child free old biddies can happily watch at home. Don’t get me wrong, I went into the city last night to enjoy a film festival release followed by a panelist discussion, so I did my part to support an indie film and venue, but that’s more about the event than than the film itself.
To me, Nolan is right up there with Scorsese, Spielberg, Coppola in terms of talent.
WB has made $Billions off his talent and work.
The Batman films must have set $$ profit records.
Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Tom Hardy, Cillian Murphy have all given terrific performances with Nolan as Director.
His films are huge productions, naturally it takes years in between.
If he just cranked out short, easy, simple movies he would not be Chris Nolan.
No, he would be more of a Micheal Bay if that were true.
Weird, spell check doesn’t like my spelling of Micheal.
I love Nolan’s movies because they ARE blockbusters, they are these big budget summer must-see movies, but they’re also just really excellent films typically. He proves that you don’t have to choose between one or the other, the biggest blockbuster of the year can also be the best movie of the year.
Hmm…I would group them as Spielberg and Nolan (who make blockbusters that are sometimes art films) and Coppola and Scorsese (who make art films that are sometimes blockbusters.) They are all talented, but it’s the latter two who have truly profound things to say about life.
They have profound things to say about….. men. Women are mostly just “supporting”.
Goodness. I just read above comment “If the strike is over by Fall/Winter”
Boy, if it goes months on end, those strikers will be financially ruined. Many of them.
Are the Union members allowed to be employed in other jobs while the strike goes on?
i.e. Any non acting, non writing work in a different field? Unemployment?
Months with no income, no one I know IRL can hold on more than 1-2 weeks, paycheck to paycheck, IRL.
I think he can only benefit from the Barbenheimer coupon offers. I have no desire to see his bomb movie in July or any other month but if I had any inclination, the half off coupon I got when I bought my Barbie ticket would have pushed me over the edge.
Oppenheimer just isn’t a great summer movie. I want a fun movie to see in the summer. A tent-pole, popcorn flick I can see with my kid and have a good time.
Summer is not the time I want to see a 3-hour movie about the world blowing up that’s gonna scare and depress me. That sounds like more of an October movie to me.
Is this why WB went all out on the marketing budget? I can’t remember the last time I saw a movie marketed this much. Its literally everywhere and it certainly worked on me. I had no plans to see Barbie but the “She’s Everything, He’s just Ken” made me laugh and everything else I’ve seen keeps hitting my funny bone.
I booked my ticket to see Barbie on Sunday afternoon, being the only subtitled screening.
weird how all the cinemas within reasonable distance scheduled their subtitled screening the same time, so I chose the one with free parking and biggest screen. I might watch Oppenheimer on streaming, but I am not sitting through a 3 hour movie.
Li Lai from CommonSense tweeted: “People seem to love #Oppenheimer but I’ll just say it: I was uncomfy watching yet another movie about tortured white male genius when the victims of the atrocities glossed over by the script—Japanese people, interned Japanese Americans, and Native Americans—had no voice.”
And I read another tweet from a woman whose mother was a baby in New Mexico, where they tested the bomb. She said 17 of her mom’s 21 female high school classmates had leukemia.
Hate to be a buzzkill, but this kind of commentary will probably keep me from giving Nolan my money.
Nolan sounds like he takes himself way too seriously. A very valid criticism pointed out about this film is that they talk about the father of nuclear weapons but not once feature any Japanese people who were the victim of his project. Nor do they mention the Hispanic communities that were displaced and exploited to build his lab. It’s whitewashing of the worst sort.
This feels overblown to me. Barbie v Oppenheimer is classic box office counter programming. That was more of a factor than “revenge” on Nolan. Plus avoiding Mission Impossible.
The films appeal to such different audiences; I don’t think they’re cannibalising each other.
Oppenheimer is 3 hour long and R rated so that was always going to somewhat limit its b.o — and Barbenheimer is a gift to both!
Pfft. He’s benefitting with all the Barbie-heimer hype. It’s literally the only reason I know or care about the film.
What’s funny is that this petty move by WB has created even more anticipation around both of these films and looking at early box office numbers Barbie is the biggest opening of the year while Oppenheimer is the biggest non Batman debut of Nolan’s career.
WB probably did him a favor with this but i doubt he’ll see it that way because while Barbenheimer probably increased ticket sales for Oppenheimer it blocked him from the number one spot.