Who would have guessed that Barbie and J. Robert Oppenheimer would team up to become the duo of summer 2023, but that's what happened. Barbenheimer was truly a global phenomenon.
The July 21, 2023, release dates of Greta Gerwig's Barbie movie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer were an event that the internet dubbed Barbenheimer. Memes have been created, thousands of people planned double feature screenings of the summer blockbuster movies (we'd recommend Oppenheimer then Barbie, to end on a more positive note); there was even Barbenheimer merchandise.
It's truly a wonderfully strange thing that a movie based on the Mattel doll and a biopic about the father of the atomic bomb have become interlinked like this. While there was no need to pit these two movies against each other, they were always going to be compared to one another — their reviews, their box office results, cultural impact and how they fared with awards and end-of-year lists.
With that in mind, here's the by-the-numbers look at Barbenheimer, giving you easy access to see how the two movies are faring.
Reviews
Barbie reviews
What to Watch review: 4/5 stars
Rotten Tomatoes score: 88%, "Certified Fresh"
"The film is unapologetic and unafraid in its savvy observations about both women and men," reads What to Watch's Barbie review, making it clear that a movie based on the iconic plastic dolls is much deeper than anyone may have originally expected. And while we admit that not every facet of the movie hits, "its aim is usually true, sharp and frequently funny."
Many other critics are in awe of the balance Gerwig has been able to achieve between the glamour and more complicated real-world ideas, wonderfully described by The Wrap's Tomris Laffly, "a soulful film underneath all the persistent fuchsia."
Oppenheimer reviews
What to Watch review: 4.5/5 stars
Rotten Tomatoes score: 93%, "Certified Fresh"
In What to Watch's Oppenheimer review, we call the movie an artistic triumph that seems destined to be considered among, if not the, masterpiece of Christopher Nolan's career, though it probably won't be the first one of his movies you want to watch again.
The general consensus has seen other critics call it "a film of magnitude, profundity and dazzling artistry" (Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post), among "the best films of the decade" (Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times) and "the most important motion picture of 2023, and maybe far beyond" (Pete Hammond, Deadline).
Box office
Editor's note: all these projections are for US box office numbers
Barbie box office
Barbie box office: $636.2 million in US; $809.4 million outside US; $1.44 billion total
Barbie was the top grossing movie of 2023, one of two movies to cross the $1 billion mark at the global box office (The Super Mario Bros. Movie is the other).
Barbie's $162 million from its opening weekend means that the Greta Gerwig-directed movie earned the biggest opening weekend of a female-directed movie ever, besting Captain Marvel ($153 million), Frozen II ($130 million) and Wonder Woman ($103 million).
Oppenheimer box office
Oppenheimer box office: $329.8 million in US; $642.3 million outside US; $972.2 million total
Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer (along with Barbie) has proven you don't need to be a superhero to make big bucks at the box office. Oppenheimer was the third highest grossing movie at the global box office in 2023 and fifth in the US.
The combination of Barbie and Oppenheimer made the July 21-23 weekend at the US movie theaters the fourth-biggest weekend overall weekend in history.
Runtimes
Barbie runtime
One hour, 54 minutes
Oppenheimer runtime
Three hours
Awards
Barbie awards
Barbie was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture, but it only won one, for Best Original Song (Bille Eilish's "What Was I Made For"). Barbie's Oscar legacy certainly seems like it will be more about the awards it didn't get nominations for, with Greta Gerwig missing out on Best Director and Margot Robbie not making the cut in Best Actress, though Robbie was nominated as a producer and Gerwig was nominated for writing the script.
Among Barbie's other award highlights were a number of citations for Ryan Gosling for Best Supporting Actor, including an Oscar nom, and winning the first ever Cinematic and Box Office Achievement award at the Golden Globes.
Oppenheimer awards
Oppenheimer was the dominant force on the awards circuit for 2023 movies. After racking up wins with numerous critics groups, the Golden Globes, BAFTAs and SAG Awards, it went on to pick up seven Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director (Christopher Nolan), Best Actor (Cillian Murphy), Best Supporting Actor (Robert Downey Jr.), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing and Best Original Score.
