2023 has been a pretty big year for movies, but not many of this year’s blockbusters have quite the hype behind them that Barbie’s had. Greta Gerwig’s take on Mattel’s ever-popular fashion doll line caught folks’ attention with its first trailer, and each new glimpse at the film teased out something that would be if not great, then at least interesting.
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There’ve been plenty of movies based on toys in recent years, but not all of them have had quite this level of buzz. It’s not every day that a summer blockbuster is marketed mainly at women, but Barbie is one of those brands that’s so strong that it couldn’t really help but catch your attention either way, something one of the film’s trailers cheekily acknowledged. (“If you like Barbie, this movie’s for you; if you hate Barbie, this movie’s also for you.”) So far the movie’s gotten a lot of love, with pretty strong reviews across the board for…basically everything, particularly its two leads, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.
WB’s been marketing Barbie like mad in recent months, but what’s also helped its popularity boost has been Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, of all things. The two movies released on the same weekend, leading many online to first argue over which of the two movies would do better at the box office, then decide to make a whole event out of the two films. In what’s since been christened “Barbenheimer,” some moviegoers have opted to see both movies in the same day…and from the sound of things, many regret starting things off with the three-hour Oppenheimer.
In this weekend’s Open Channel, we wanna know both your thoughts on Barbie and if you decided to do Barbenheimer (and in what order). Let us know down in the comments below.
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