Every once and a while, two high-profile movie projects square off on the same weekend at the box office. There have even been instances of both movies becoming cemented as classics. Ghostbusters and Gremlins opened on the same weekend. Die Hard and A Fish Called Wanda would duke it out opening on the same day in the summer of 1988. Batman and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids would battle for childhood supremacy on a fateful opening weekend in 1989. This year, movie audiences are being treated to the opening weekend of Oppenheimer and Barbie on July 21.
According to Variety, Oppenheimer star Matt Damon spoke to Vanity Fair about the two tentpole films being given a light rivalry online as people joke about the nature of the competition. Both movies are different enough with their own audience draws and there’s a certain anticipation over which summer film would come out on top. Damon tells Vanity Fair, “This is the first I’m hearing about it, actually. I haven’t paid any attention to that. People are allowed to go see two movies in a weekend. Oppenheimer is one of them!”
Damon would additionally joke that his daughters may play a part in deciding what to see that weekend. “I’ll have to ask them that. If that’s the case, they’ll see two movies that weekend!” While Barbie has a less prestigious tone than something like Oppenheimer, it seems more ripe for a summer film as school is out and younger audiences are more keen to flock to something light-hearted and straight-up dramas aren’t a draw for summer releases as much as they used to be. They are rarely even planned for summer due to demographics and awards eligibility (which usually comes at the end of the year).
What’s interesting about this competition is the talent involved with both movies are pretty noteworthy despite the nature of the source material. Both have proven talented casts and both have acclaimed directors that have also written for the films. Ironically, director Christopher Nolan was the golden boy at Warner Bros. until issues arose with his last outing, Tenet. He broke off his partnership with the studio and Warner Bros. happens to be releasing Barbie on the same weekend as his first film with Universal.