What Can We Learned From The Barbenheimer Phenomenon? - Opinion
From Gaius Bolling
Last weekend saw the dawn of the event known as Barbenheimer, which saw two very different films, Barbie & Oppenheimer, hit the big screen on the very same day. What began has a fun competition between films, turned into a groundswell of support for both projects as they entered opening weekend. The end result was a massive box office for both films with Barbie opening to $162 million while Oppenheimer was also impressive with an $82.5 million debut. Both movies are still putting up great weekday numbers but what can be learned from this epic weekend at the box office? Hollywood sees success like this and sometimes learns the wrong lessons (we're seeing it now with talk of a Barbie cinematic universe) but there is a chance to repeat a weekend like this again they follow a few simple rules.
A good lesson to be learned here is that counter-programming is your friend. Barbie and Oppenheimer definitely appealed to different demographics and pretty much all of them were served across both films. Counter-programming is essential because the films in question aren't fighting for the same audience. We saw this 15 years ago when The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia were released on the same day. They both attracted different audiences and they both proved to be successful. Instead of underserving a certain faction of the audience, it's time to make sure that everyone gets a little something to love.
Another great lesson learned here, and one echoed constantly amongst cinephiles, is that Hollywood needs to start embracing original ideas over established IP. Sure, Barbie is based on the Mattel line of dolls but the story itself is original. Oppenheimer, based on a historical figure and a book, still falls in the original idea arena because the source material isn't coming from a comic book or sequel. This was an R-rated three-hour historical epic that tapped into an adult audience that was starved for originality and substance. The idea is that original projects don't sell as well as established IP but we've seen established IP with big budgets come up short at the box office (see Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny and The Flash as recent examples). We need to start banking on original ideas more and not shying away from them when one happens to not work. When at first you don't succeed, dust yourself off and try again.
We also need to stand by creative directors. Someone like Greta Gerwig, who helmed Barbie, has a strong artistic vision that has only grown since her breakthrough with Lady Bird. It's essential that we give directors like this creative control over their projects and not stifle their artistic voices. Studios are known to interfere but Warner Bros., a studio classically known for such interference, actually allowed Gerwig to make the film she wanted to make and the end result is a likely $1 billion global earner when it's all said and done.
This point is proven by a director like Christopher Nolan. Nolan came to Universal Pictures with Oppenheimer following a long one with Warner Bros. that proved to be lucrative for the director and the studio. Warner Bros. allowed Nolan early on to flex his creative muscles and because of that, we have a director that is a rare spot to actually be someone that can release a financially successful film on his name alone. Nolan also kept Oppenheimer's budget relatively low at $100 million and now that is going to pay off greatly for Universal. When you trust your directors, this is the kind of success you can see.
Audiences also still care about a great story with great characters. Within Barbie's tongue-in-cheek humor is the titular's character journey of learning what it's really like to be a woman in the real world while dealing with unrealistic expectations set by the very product she represents. Barbie goes through a strong character arc and the audience is responding to it. Even Ryan Gosling's Ken has an arc, buried beneath his truly scene-stealing performance, is the idea that you are enough and that masculinity isn't defined by one thing.
Oppenheimer also features a lead character that is thought-provoking. You're meeting someone who has a groundbreaking idea that forges ahead with it but we also see his ultimate regret and consequences from opening Pandora's Box. The conflict that permeates the closing moments of Oppenheimer is powerful and it stays with you. That's the sign of a well-crafted story.
This weekend also gave the industry a lesson in balancing art and a potential merchandising windfall. Barbie is going to give a boost to Mattel's bottom line, no doubt, but their desire to sell merchandise never seemed to overshadow the artistic integrity of the project. For instance, Warner Bros. wanted Joel Schumacher to make 1997's Batman & Robin as a product to sell toys. They chose to put story second and merchandising first, which resulted in the near demise of the franchise before Nolan's Batman Begins resurrected it in 2005. With Barbie, they didn't compromise creativity to sell a product.
With Oppenheimer, Nolan himself figured out how to make a commercially viable historical biopic without limiting his creative direction as well. If this has been a straightforward biopic, I don't think it would've been as successful but Nolan's knack for visual gold turned the film into something that moved along at the pace of an action or horror film. He also made things interesting by toying with different aspect ratios and showing some of the film in black and white, while also making the movie a masterclass in sound design.
Hollywood might make the obvious choice and learn the lesson that we need to sequalize the success of Barbie and try to plan its release with the biopic of the moment but there hope is that they see more from Barbenheimer's success. This was a great weekend for two exceptionally good films that both were embraced by critics and moviegoers alike. A lot of lessons were listed here to learn but maybe there is just one simple lesson here to live by: Make great and original movies for a memorable theatrical experience.
