Barbie and Oppenheimer: a challenge between two films in the cinema

The summer film challenge has a place and a date: USA, July 21st. The day, that is, on which they will be released simultaneously in American theaters. Barbie AND Oppenheimertwo phenomenal films at the moment, so much so that they spawned the Barbienheimer hashtag trending with Barbiecore. Oppenheimer this is the new work of the winner (eleven Oscars) Christopher Nolanthe story of a scientist who, with the Manhattan Project, led to the development of the atomic bomb; Barbie because it gives body and voice to the world’s most famous doll and her world of pink plastic and ultrapop.

The box office is poised: two films are betting on the box office, but the attitude of the American public towards summer cinema is different from the Italian one. From U.S Barbie will be released on July 20, and for Oppenheimer we will have to wait until August 23rd. As the uncertainty of Hollywood strikes weighs on American releases, in which actors, including superstars, find themselves in solidarity and in the forefront: at the premiere of Nolan in London, scheduled for the first day of the strike called by The Sag, the actors, director and cast left , despite the fact that the red carpet was moved forward an hour. And Margot Robbie, directing Barbie in the flesh. Greta Gerwigwill not further promote the film, following the rules of the union.

For the public (and for the box office) it remains to wait. Interpreted Cillian Murphy (Irish from the series Peaky Blinders), Oppenheimer recounts from a Pulitzer Prize-winning book highlights from the life of a physicist (1904–1967) who marked the history of the twentieth century by helping usher the world into a new era: nuclear, with all that it entails.

A director not new to big-budget blockbusters – from the keeper To Dunkirk, Interstellartrilogy The Dark Knight – Deployed huge resources shooting in new formats (including Imax in black and white) for a film whose ambitions start with the cast: Emily Blunt like his wife, biologist and botanist Katherine Oppenheimer, Matt Damon in the case of General Leslie Groves, Jr., director of the Manhattan Project, Robert Downey Jr. as Lewis Strauss, founding commissioner of the US Atomic Energy Commission, while Florence Pugh played by psychiatrist Jean Tatlock. To them are added Rami Malek AND Kenneth Branagh.

Realistic Oppenheimer with the nightmare of nuclear power, unreal BarbieWith Margot Robbie who from the very first images fit perfectly into the role of a blond doll surrounded by a platinum Ken Ryan Gosling.

The marketing operation that revolves around the film, thanks to the synergy between Mattel and big Warner, is monumental, with over 100 brand deals ranging from imitation collections to pink wedge sneakers, from Ken’s Malibu-bookable Airbnb home to shocking pink roller skates. skates through nail polish, pajamas and so on.

Not just the “induced” one that is already luring many: other films from well-known toys such as Hot Wheels and Polly Pocket have also been announced. Barbie It’s only begining.