The movie release dates of Barbie and Oppenheimer premiered on July 21st. As these two completely different films came out on the same day, it made audiences question which big-time release to grab their tickets for. And there were also plenty of folks who did a double feature. Quentin Tarantino is an example of a filmmaker with no problems supporting his other fellow filmmakers, as he was seen purchasing his own Barbenheimer tickets-- leaving my mind officially blown.
Is this what I think I'm seeing that the filmmaker who graced us with the Kill Bill series saw not one but two movies on Barbenheimer Day? The Video Archives Podcast confirmed that as they retweeted a fan post on Twitter that spotted Quentin Tarantino buying a ticket to see Barbie after seeing Oppenheimer. Take a look at the post down below and tell me this doesn’t leave you astonished.
Yes our boys were out last night doing what they love to do the most together, seeing movies 🫡 https://t.co/9IbsJtjA3GJuly 23, 2023
Isn’t it amazing to see this award-winning filmmaker show his love for both movies? It clearly meant a lot to him to give Barbie and Oppenheimer a shot instead of having to choose which one to see. If you were to ask me which movie I thought Quentin Tarantino would have picked between Barbie and Oppenheimer, I would have thought solely of Oppenheimer. After all, when elaborating on his one-sentence review of Christopher Nolan’s Tenet, the Reservoir Dogs filmmaker said he saw it three times. Maybe more to make sense of the film’s mind-boggling plot, but he still contributed three movie tickets for that one film. But hey, this is all the more reason why guys should be more comfortable expressing they’re excited about Barbie. This filmmaker known for his stylized nitty-gritty violence appears to be a Barbie fan at heart. Plus, he's worked with Barbie star Margot Robbie.
There’s been a lot of hype in terms of Barbenheimer due to these two movies being so different from each other like oil and water. Barbie stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling playing the signature Mattel Inc. dolls venturing away from the Barbie World. Then you have the biopic Oppenheimer that... doesn’t exactly scream pink. The Inception director gives us a profile of J. Robert Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy, who was responsible for building the world’s first atomic bomb. You go into Greta Gerwig’s comedy knowing you’ll get a light and humorous experience. In contrast, Christopher Nolan’s same-day release epic thriller will leave you perplexed with some even comparing it to a horror film. But like Oppenheimer’s Matt Damon said when weighing in on Barbenheimer, people are allowed to see two movies. Tarantino is apparently an advocate for that statement.
Ever since the Barbenheimer craze started, the question on my mind has been which movie would hold the number one spot for the weekend. The winner ended up being Barbie which wasn’t a huge shock to me as the Warner Bros. comedy’s PG-13 rating would attract teens and adults in contrast to Oppenheimer’s R-rating. However, both movies set new records for 2023. Barbie made it to the number one spot with a weekend gross of $155 million and became the biggest domestic opening weekend of the year. Oppenheimer achieved second place at $80.5 million, being Nolan’s third-biggest domestic opening weekend film and one of the best opening weekends for an R-rated drama. The numbers speak for themselves that both movies did incredibly well for themselves.
It still blows my mind to know that Quentin Tarantino supported both Barbie and Oppenheimer. With both movies having shown a lot of promise before its release, it proves that you don’t have to choose. You can blend some darkness into your movie night with a little splash of pink. You can watch these 2023 movie releases in theaters now.
