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Barbenheimer

“While it’s tough to say exactly what Barbie is, it’s easy to say what it isn’t: Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, a biopic about the father of the nuclear bomb, which is premiering on the same day in a largely black-and-white color scheme that almost definitely won’t contribute to a pink-paint shortage. Come July 21, some fans will trek offline to see Robbie grinning in her Corvette; others will be readying themselves to watch Cillian Murphy gaze despondently at an atomic explosion. Early box-office tracking estimates suggest there may be slightly more of the former than the latter.” — Jason P. Frank, “The Dawn of Barbenheimer”

Everything else

  1. at the box office
    4 Lessons From a Box-Office Summer of Hopeful Highs and Panic-Inducing LowsThis summer taught us a lot about the new normal in audience behavior, even beyond the Barbenheimer of it all.
    By Chris Lee
  2. sublime!
    A Barbie Post-Credits Scene Is Coming to PartyFor a limited, one-week Imax engagement across the (Barbie) world.
    By Zoe Guy
  3. movies fantasy league
    So You Want to Win the Movies Fantasy League?An exhaustive strategy guide to building your team for the 2023–24 MFL season.
    By Joe Reid
  4. buzz buzz
    The Scarab Chose Blue Beetle at the Box OfficeAnd Barbie loses the top spot for the first time.
    By Alejandra Gularte
  5. vulture lists
    Every Will Ferrell Movie, RankedWhich film best captures the Will Ferrell Experience? We’ve ranked ’em all, including his most recent appearances in Barbie and Strays.
    By Will Leitch and Tim Grierson
  6. we live in a society (it’s pink)
    Barbie Wins Box-Office Beach-Off Against The Dark KnightSublime! Barbie is now the biggest domestic Warner Bros. release.
    By Bella Arnold
  7. easter eggs
    A Short History of Barbie’s Earring Magic Ken and His Not-A-Cock-Ring NecklaceMattel’s most rave-ready Ken doll of the ‘90s makes a cameo in Barbie, though his most famous accessory is nowhere to be found.
    By Alejandra Gularte
  8. one billion dollars
    This Barbie is a BillionaireIt’s Margot and Greta’s Billion Dollar Movie!
    By Bethy Squires
  9. hi barbie
    Is No. 87 Kenough?Ryan Gosling’s ode to existential himbos made the Billboard “Hot 100.”
    By Devon Ivie
  10. who’s on top
    Billboard Album Charts: NewJeans Beats the Barbie Soundtrack by 500 UnitsThe k-pop group beat the Barbie soundtrack by 500 units.
    By Bethy Squires
  11. apologies
    Warner Bros US Apologizes for Barbenheimer MemesAfter their Japan division released a statement calling it “extremely regrettable.”
    By Alejandra Gularte
  12. k: death!
    ‘Pink (Bad Day)’ Is the Barbie Song for the PeopleIt’s finally on Spotify!
    By Justin Curto
  13. chat room
    How Cillian Murphy Found His ‘Resting Physicist’s Face’“My job is to convince the audience that Oppenheimer knows what he’s doing. I really spent most of the time working on his psychology.”
    By Bilge Ebiri
  14. this barbie is emotional
    Get in, Losers, We’re Making TikToks About GirlhoodThe saddest part of Barbie, now in 15 seconds or less.
    By Bella Arnold
  15. oscar futures
    Oppenheimer Could Dominate the Oscars. Barbie Could Win Best Picture.Oppenheimer is primed to be a major awards contender. But the films that win the top Oscar these days look more like Barbie.
    By Nate Jones
  16. barbenheimer
    Which Barbie Is Oppenheimer?Barbie can be anything, including a scientist who stole the world’s innocence by developing a harbinger of the apocalypse.
    By Jason P. Frank and Rebecca Alter
  17. close read
    What Is Greta Gerwig Trying to Tell Us?From Barnard to Barbie, the director has always been interested in female ambition, including her own.
    By Allison P. Davis
  18. this barbie can’t stop crying
    Release the Barbie Fart-Opera CutRemember what they took from us …
    By Bella Arnold
  19. q&a
    The One Thing Missing From Oppenheimer’s ScoreLudwig Göransson strategically avoided an entire instrument family and built one of the most beautifully agitating movie soundtracks.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  20. come on barney let’s go party
    What Else Is In the Mattel Films Toy Box?Polly Pocket, American Girl dolls, Hot Wheels, and … Bass Fishin’?
    By Bella Arnold
  21. this barbie is emotional
    Which Barbie Scene Made You Cry the Hardest?Thanks to five crucial scenes, Greta Gerwig’s movie enters the tear-jerker movie canon.
    By Jen Chaney
  22. coming soon
    Emily in Paris to Become Polly in PocketLily Collins and Lena Dunham’s Polly Pocket movie is a go.
    By Bethy Squires
  23. vulture lists
    12 (Even More) Depressing Things to Read and Watch After OppenheimerThese books, movies, and pieces of pop culture are a guide to the atomic era Oppenheimer unleashed.
    By Kelsey Atherton
  24. vulture lists
    Greta Gerwig’s 10 Favorite BooksGeorge Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Joan Didion, and more.
    By Greta Gerwig
  25. barbenheimer
    Benny Safdie Is Really Proud of How His Eyebrows ‘Shined’ in Oppenheimer“Every once in a while I have a straggler that I’ll just pluck out. But Chris said, ‘Don’t do that. Let’s just let it go crazy.’”
    By Bilge Ebiri
  26. he’s kenough
    Rob Thomas Accepts His KenergyHe correctly assumed Matchbox Twenty would be “the butt of the joke” in Barbie.
    By Devon Ivie
  27. moment of (t)ruth
    Who Was the Real Ruth Handler From Barbie?Here’s the (t)ruth about the Mattel co-founder who created the iconic doll.
    By Jennifer Zhan
  28. chat room
    It Sure Feels Good to Have Robert Downey Jr. Onscreen AgainDowney wanted a new experience, and he got it in Oppenheimer, a movie that takes him from chummy to snakelike in a fascinating role.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  29. explainers
    What’s Fact and What’s Fiction in Oppenheimer?Even this most rigorous of biopics must at times employ shortcuts and shorthand.
    By Nate Jones
  30. women!
    Greta Gerwig Explains the Final Line in Barbie“I knew I wanted to end on a mic-drop kind of joke, but I also find it very emotional.”
    By Zoe Guy
  31. at the box office
    I Am Become Barbenheimer, Destroyer of Box Office RecordsBarbie and Oppenheimer’s staggering returns seem to signal franchise fatigue — or at least that audiences want alternatives to the same old, same old.
    By Chris Lee
  32. barbenheimer
    How Real Housewives Became Hollywood’s Secret Movie-Marketing WeaponThe film industry looks to Bravoholics to save cinema.
    By Chris Lee
  33. let’s go party
    Who’s Winning the Barbenheimer Box Office?Barbie had the largest domestic opening of any female director, ever.
    By Alejandra Gularte
  34. da movies
    Barbenheimer Weekend: Fires, Chaos, and Memes[demonic voice] “Hi, Ken!”
    By Bethy Squires
  35. back to the movies
    How Are Movie Theaters Handling Barbenheimer?Here’s to hoping there are Kenough screens for every Barbie wearing a porkpie hat.
    By Alejandra Gularte
  36. that’s so allan
    Let Us Salute the Unsung Hero of BarbieAllan is a vibe, if having no vibe counts as a vibe. He is the parentheses in the sentence of life.
    By Jen Chaney
  37. scene report
    Even a Dog in a Pink Bandanna Did BarbenheimerIt’s cinema’s biggest night!
    By Zoe Guy
  38. character guide
    Who’s Who in Oppenheimer: A Guide to 36 Scientists, Soldiers, and RedsOppenheimer is a cavalcade of white men in suits exchanging rapid-fire dialogue about physics and war. Here’s how to tell them apart.
    By Siddhant Adlakha
  39. endings
    The ‘Troubling Reverberations’ at the End of Oppenheimer, ExplainedIt’s the most shattering ending of anything Christopher Nolan has made, and maybe even of any studio blockbuster in recent memory.
    By Bilge Ebiri
  40. kenergy
    Did Sam Smith See Ken on Grindr?Meet Bicurious Ken on “Man I Am.”
    By Justin Curto
  41. vulture lists
    Every Ryan Gosling Movie, RankedA closer look at the actor’s tortured men, silent heroes, and wounded lovers.
    By Roxana Hadadi
  42. endings
    Barbie’s Ending Is When It Finally Transcends Corporate IPMothers, daughters, and spiritual connections — Barbie’s final moments are when it truly becomes a Greta Gerwig film.
    By Katie Rife
  43. let’s go party
    Breaking: Barbie Has Entered the Real WorldAnd Sam Smith and Ryan Gosling brought some Ken-ergy to the soundtrack.
    By Jason P. Frank and Ashley Shannon Wu
  44. solidarity
    Don’t Worry, Your Barbenheimer Plans Don’t Cross Picket LinesThe double strike doesn’t have to affect your double feature.
    By Jennifer Zhan
  45. barbie world
    The Woman Who Rescued Barbie from Development HellMattel executive Robbie Brenner, head of the toy company’s film division, tells us what it took to save the long-gestating adaptation.
    By Matthew Jacobs
  46. this is my hair i don’t wear wigs
    Cillian Murphy and Christopher Nolan Wage War (Against Wigs)This Barbie is all natural.
    By Jason P. Frank
  47. vulture lists
    The 11 Biggest Box-Office BombsWhere does Oppenheimer rank?
    By James Grebey
  48. review roundup
    Can Barbie Have Her Cake and Eat It Too?Critics say the existential comedy is well done, but some wonder how subversive Mattel’s IP-driven movie can be.
    By Zoe Guy
  49. vulture lists
    Let’s Revisit the 41 Other Barbie MoviesBefore Greta Gerwig came along, the Mattel doll already had a surprisingly vast cinematic universe.
    By Savannah Salazar
  50. movie review
    Oppenheimer Is a Tragedy of Operatic GrandeurChristopher Nolan’s movie about the invention of the atomic bomb is almost too big to wrap your head around.
    By Alison Willmore
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