This summer, theaters had a dual release of the films Barbie and Oppenheimer, which some referred to as “Barbenheimer,” and it was the first time since the pandemic that we got to see two big blockbusters go head to head on the same opening weekend. Barbie won the box office, but both films had great theatrical openings and solid runs at the movie theaters. Ahead of the films’ release date, some executives were nervous about two big movies going head to head again, as they didn’t want their film to lose out on any prospective ticket sales, and though it didn’t seem to have a negative impact, one producer in particular tried his best to budge Barbie to a different opening date.
In a recent edition of Variety’s Actors on Actors, Oscar nominee and star of Barbie, Margot Robbie told Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy that producer Charles Roven, whom Robbie had previously worked on in the 2021 film The Suicide Squad, had approached her about moving Barbie’s release:
“One of your producers, Chuck Roven, called me, because we worked together on some other projects. And he was like, ‘I think you guys should move your date.’ And I was like, ‘We’re not moving our date. If you’re scared to be up against us, then you move your date.’ And he’s like, ‘We’re not moving our date. I just think it’d be better for you to move.’ And I was like, ‘We’re not moving!’”
Barbie went on to gross $1.4 Billion in the box office, making it the highest grossing film of 2023. Oppenheimer did well in its own right, but Robbie was right to bet on her movie.
