Martin Scorsese may not be into the Marvel Cinematic Universe but when it comes to combining a Mattel icon and the father of the atomic bomb, the man is on board. Scorsese has come out in support of the Barbenheimer phenomenon — the dual release of Barbie and Oppenheimer — even if he hasn’t seen either movie.
Speaking with Hindustan Times, Martin Scorsese said. “I do think that the combination of Oppenheimer and Barbie was something special. It seemed to be, I hate that word, but the perfect storm. It came about at the right time. And the most important thing is that people went to watch these in a theatre. And I think that’s wonderful…The way it fit perfectly – a film with such entertainment value, purely with the bright colours – and a film with such severity and strength, and pretty much about the danger of the end to our civilisation – you couldn’t have more opposite films to work together. It does offer some hope for a different cinema to emerge…”
Interestingly, Scorsese has yet to see either Greta Gerwig’s Barbie or Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, saying, “I haven’t seen the films yet. I love Chris Nolan’s work. Margot Robbie, I must say, started with me from The Wolf of Wall Street. Rodrigo Prieto (cinematographer), after finishing Killers of the Flower Moon, went on to shoot Barbie. So it’s all in the family (laughs).”
Worldwide, Barbie and Oppenheimer have collectively grossed nearly $2.4 billion, with only The Super Mario Bros. Movie standing between the two on the highest-grossing movies of 2023. Meanwhile, Martin Scorsese has a tall hill to climb with his next feature, Killers of the Flower Moon, which has a reported budget of $200 million. Scorsese’s highest-grossing movie worldwide isThe Wolf of Wall Street, which took in about $390 million. For comparison, Oppenheimer had a $323 million domestic haul. It might also be worth noting that only four of Scorsese’s films have ever topped $100 million domestically, despite a career that spans nearly 60 years: 2004’s The Aviator, Best Picture winner The Departed, 2010’s Shutter Island, and the aforementioned The Wolf of Wall Street.
What role do you think the releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer had in a resurgence in box office numbers? Give us your opinion in the comments section below.