Barbenheimer's Going Strong as There Are Over 40,000 Double-Feature Enjoyers Now
The sheer scale of this meme is unbelievable: over the last week, the number of dedicated Barbenheimer moviegoers doubled, and it only keeps growing!
For those living under a rock, Barbenheimer is a name of a meme about the mash-up of Christopher Nolan 's Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig's Barbie, two movies that have nothing in common but come out on the same day — and the cultural phenomenon this meme birthed that leads people to watch them both.
Don't get us wrong, there are probably a thousand times more people who merely want to appreciate both Nolan's and Gerwig's geniuses; Barbenheimer fans, however, intend to watch both these movies in cinemas the day they release, turning July 21 into the most explosive, depressing, pink, and cheerful day you can imagine.
What started as a funny online joke and source material for mash-up movie posters quickly grew into a large international movement, and right now, just a few days before the double-feature release, there are thousands upon thousands of people who have already booked their double tickets — and even more waiting for the day.
Last week, AMC reported that over 20,000 people had booked their double-feature tickets in advance, which was a really impressive number in itself. But today, as Variety found out, it doubled to over 40,000 Barbenheimer enjoyers!
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And this, according to AMC Theatres executive Elizabeth Frank, may only be the beginning since the trend doesn't appear to be slowing down in the slightest.
We're positively excited for the changes the Barbenheimer phenomenon could mean for the movie industry. Many people see it as the ultimate manifestation of the audience's love for cinema as a form of art; other think it shows the public's ability to appreciate various genres; and some claim it's only thanks to the overblown meme.
No matter where the truth really lies, the thing is that Barbenheimer has already made history even before the two movies got released, and there won't be any shortage of moviegoers joining in on the mass experiment this weekend. If anything major comes out of this, it'd be nice to see; if it doesn't — we still had fun, right?
Source: Variety