Barbenheimer Pitch Meeting-TGN

Summary

  • The latest episode of Screen Rant’s Pitch Meeting series explores the competition between Barbie and Oppenheimer, two seemingly opposite movies that were released on the same date.

  • The Pitch Meeting pokes fun at Oppenheimer’s controversial sex scenes and Barbie’s pro-feminist message that some have found to be too on the nose.

  • While Oppenheimer has higher critical approval, Barbie is dominating at the box office, grossing over $780 million worldwide compared to Nolan’s $405 million. Barbie is expected to surpass the $1 billion mark soon.

With it becoming one of the more recent viral movie sensations, Screen Rant‘s Pitch Meeting series is taking a look at the competition between Barbie and Oppenheimer affectionately known as Barbenheimer. The former title centers on Margot Robbie as the eponymous doll traveling to the real world in search of the meaning of life, while the latter is a biographical thriller about the infamous physicist leading the charge on the Manhattan Project during World War II. Barbenheimer found its way onto social media when the two movies found themselves sharing the same theatrical release date, July 21.

After two weeks of dominating the box office, the latest episode of Screen Rant‘s Pitch Meeting series is exploring Barbenheimer.

The new episode, as seen above, spotlights the interesting phenomenon of the seemingly opposite movies as they made their way to theaters at the same time. The Pitch Meeting also pokes fun at various elements of each title, namely Oppenheimer‘s numerous sex scenes that have already sparked controversy among audiences, and Barbie‘s pro-feminist message that some have deemed a little too on the nose.

Who Is Winning Barbenheimer?

In the lead up to the opening weekend, Barbenheimer was initially viewed as a competition between the two projects, with many on social media choosing one movie over the other for which they’d see in theaters. Tom Cruise, an avid proponent of the theatrical experience, expressed his support for the viral competition and saying he would watch Oppenheimer then Barbie in their opening weekends. Nolan and star Cillian Murphy were similarly delighted for it, with the former even campaigning to play a Ken in a potential Barbie 2.

Though only two weeks have passed since its release, the question still remains of which project came out victorious in the Barbenheimer battle. As far as critics go, Oppenheimer has been deemed the superior movie, garnering a higher approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes of 93 percent compared to Barbie‘s 88 percent. Though both movies inspired double feature sales, with AMC confirming over 20 thousand tickets were sold as early as July 11, Barbie has been dominating Oppenheimer at the box office, having grossed over $780 million worldwide in comparison to Nolan’s $405 million.

Related: Barbie & Oppenheimer Won’t Save The Box Office (No Matter How Much They Make)

While it’s unclear how Oppenheimer will close out its run at the box office, Barbie seems primed to clear the $1 billion mark over the next couple of weeks, even in spite of such competition as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Blue Beetle. What will be more interesting to see is whether Barbenheimer‘s success can carry over to a similar box office battle come September 29 between Saw X and PAW Patrol, two more diametrically opposed movies with pre-established fan bases.

Source: Pitch Meeting