Barbenheimer Almost Didn’t Happen

The cultural event of the year almost didn't happen, Margot Robbie revealed during Variety's Actors on Actors series in conversation with the star of Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy.

The producer and star of Barbie shared that she received a call from Oppenheimer's producer Charles Roven, in which he told Robbie, "I think you guys should move your date". Robbie didn't hesitate to say, "We're not moving our date. If you're scared to be up against us, then you move your date".

Roven and Robbie have previously worked together on Suicide Squad, and Margot shared that Roven said "it'd be better for [Barbie] to move." Robbie was adamant that Barbie would keep its July 21 release date, and thank goodness, or we wouldn't have known the cultural moment that was Barbenheimer.

Audiences took advantage of the option to see two contrasting movies from some of the best working filmmakers in Hollywood, heading to the movie theaters in droves.

Margot expressed that "to get them at the same time was exciting" and that "people were itching for the next Chris Nolan film and itching for the next Greta Gerwig film".

Her foresight was strong before production had even begun, telling Warner Bros that Barbie would make a billion dollars, which it did... and then some.

Oppenheimer closed in on a billion itself, making $950.6 million at the box office against Barbie's $1.4 billion.

The two original movies were critical and commercial successes, generating ongoing buzz as we head into awards season.

Oppenheimer has already scored a Grammy nomination for Ludwig Göransson and won Christopher Nolan a Best Director Award and Hoyte Van Hoytema a Best Cinematographer trophy at this year's NYFCC Awards.

Barbie also scored a couple of Grammy nominations, including Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media and Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.

The battle continues as we head towards Oscar nominations, which will be revealed on January 23, 2024.