Barbie vs Oppenheimer latest: Greta Gerwig explains Barbie’s ending after record-breaking box office debut

Gerwig broke the domestic box office record for female director with ‘Barbie’ debut

Barbie cast turn London Eye pink to celebrate film premiere

Greta Gerwig has broken the domestic box office record for a female director, with Barbie debuting at $155m in North America and $337m globally.

The film surpassed the $103.3m domestic opening of Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman and the $153m weekend opening of 2019’s Captain Marvel, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Cinemas around the world were busier than ever over the weekend, thanks to the simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer, with excitement for Gerwig and Christopher Nolan’s respective blockbusters going into overdrive.

While Oppenheimer’s critical ratings have blown past Barbie with a near-perfect Rotten Tomato score, the latter, which stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, has surpassed the Cillian Murphy-starring biopic’s box office takings.

In a new interview with The Independent, Nolan described Oppenheimer as “the biggest film I’ve made”. Murphy admitted to struggling to watch the film due to seeing his face projected on the screen, but acknowledged that the film is “designed” to be “watched with an audience”.

Meanwhile, Gerwig has spoken about her film’s “mic drop” ending, after breaking the record for the biggest box office debut by a female director.

Key points

• ‘Life in plastic, it’s fantastic!’: Barbie gets five stars from The Independent
• Read The Independent’s four-star review of Oppenheimer
• Mission: Impossible struggles at box office against record-breaking might of Barbenheimer
• Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy on Oppenheimer: ‘Taking that risk on behalf of us all – there’s nothing bigger than that’
• Oppenheimer’s women: the true story of the brilliant, complicated female figures behind the famed physicist

[25 July 2023 08:30 · Peony Hirwani]

Margot Robbie’s friends outraged she didn’t kiss Ryan Gosling in Barbie: ‘What’s wrong with you?’

Margot Robbie has admitted that her friends were very disappointed by her lack of kissing with Ryan Gosling in the Barbie movie.

[25 July 2023 08:00 · Peony Hirwani]

Oppenheimer viewer spots blunder in background of new Christopher Nolan movie

An eagle-eyed viewer has spotted an apparent blunder in the background of Christopher Nolan’s new film Oppenheimer.

[25 July 2023 07:30 · Peony Hirwani]

Oppenheimer viewers react as CGI dress covers nude Florence Pugh in some countries

Oppenheimer viewers in certain territories are learning that Florence Pugh actually appears nude in a sex scene with lead actor Cillian Murphy.

Pugh plays psychiatrist Jean Tatlock in the Christopher Nolan epic, which was released in cinemas on 21 July, with Irish actor Murphy playing the eponymous “father of the atomic bomb”.

Tatlock and Oppenheimer were in a relationship and later had an affair while the physicist was married to Katherine “Kitty” Puening (portrayed by Emily Blunt in the movie).

For Western audiences, Pugh, 27, appears nude in multiple sex scenes with Murphy, 47. However, in countries including India and Indonesia, she is reportedly seen wearing a black dress that appears to have been added using CGI.

[25 July 2023 07:00 · Peony Hirwani]

Is Barbie-hating Ben Shapiro dressing up as Ken?

The internet is roasting Ben Shapiro after he watched the Barbie movie wearing an outfit that was almost identical to the one Ryan Gosling wears as Ken.

On 21 July, the conservative commentator tweeted a photo of himself inside a movie theatre where he attended a screening of the new Barbie film, which stars Margot Robbie as the titular Barbie doll and Ryan Gosling as her paramour, Ken.

“My producers dragged me to see ‘Barbie’ and it was one of the most woke movies I have ever seen,” Shapiro wrote on Twitter, alongside a photo of himself wearing a black T-shirt tucked into a pair of black pants with a matching black belt. “My full review of this flaming garbage heap of a film will be out on my YouTube channel tomorrow at 10am ET.”

Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for many Barbie fans to point out that Shapiro was seemingly wearing the exact outfit that Gosling wears as Ken during the film’s musical performance of “I’m Just Ken”.

[25 July 2023 06:30 · Peony Hirwani]

Women can’t get enough of America Ferrera’s powerful Barbie monologue: ‘Made me cry’

America Ferrera’s monologue in Barbie has been praised by viewers for highlighting the real difficulties of being a woman.

[25 July 2023 06:00 · Peony Hirwani]

Oppenheimer received major box office boost because Barbie tickets sold out

Any fears that the simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer would hurt the films’ returns have now surely been put to bed as both movies smash box office records.

In the build-up to the 21 July release date, it was reported that Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan was upset that Warner Bros had scheduled Greta Gerwig’s Barbie for the same day.

However, according to film-data research company The Quorum, Nolan actually received a significant box office boost thanks to the commercial success of Gerwig’s picture.

[25 July 2023 05:00 · Peony Hirwani]

Fox News left confused by map that shows Republicans loving Barbie – despite conservative pundit backlash

Despite an outspoken contingent of conservatives bashing the Barbie movie over a controversial map, Fox News put up a graphic showing where the flick is trending — revealing the movie is quite popular in red states.

The panel on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom were discussing the big box office weekend when co-host Dana Perino then asked for a map to be displayed, comparing where Oppenheimer and Barbie — represented respectively by blue and pink — were trending more in the United States. The map showed the southern half of the US was blanketed in pink.

“I don’t know what’s going on down South,” Ms Perino said. “They like this Barbie movie a lot.”

[25 July 2023 04:00 · Inga Parkel]

Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy on Oppenheimer: ‘Taking that risk on behalf of us all – there’s nothing bigger than that’

Read The Independent’s Jacob Stolworthy’s wide-ranging conversation with Oppenheimer’s director and lead actor

Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy: ‘Scale in cinema is a peculiar thing’ (AP/iStock)

Christopher Nolan and Cillian Murphy on Oppenheimer: ‘Taking that risk on behalf of us all – there’s nothing bigger than that’

The blockbuster director and ‘Peaky Blinders’ star talk to Jacob Stolworthy about bringing to life the man who masterminded the creation of the atomic bomb

[25 July 2023 03:30 · Inga Parkel]

Barbie release delay in Pakistan province faces severe criticism

The release of Greta Gerwig’s much-anticipated film Barbie has reportedly been delayed in a province in Pakistan and the move has come under harsh criticism from the country’s social media users.

According to local reports, the country’s Punjab province has halted the release of the film over “objectionable content”.

Read more:

Margot Robbie shares ‘pressure’ concern surrounding ‘Barbie’ casting (Warner Bros Pictures)

Barbie release delay in Pakistan province faces severe criticism: ‘World is progressing, we’re regressing’

Several social media users enraged after hearing news of delay

[25 July 2023 03:00 · Inga Parkel]

Christopher Nolan reveals genius reason he was gifted Ugg boots by Emily Blunt

“[Emily Blunt] gave me a pair of Uggs boots – Ugg slippers, actually – as a wrap gift,” Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan said on The View. “For people who have been on a set, people know how it works – we're there, losing the light, ‘Okay, we need the actors to come in,’ and sometimes they'll come straight from wardrobe, but they'll have these big coats on top and they'll be wearing these big Ugg boots, because the shoes of the character are uncomfortable. You know, 1940s shoes.”

However, Nolan explained that every time Blunt showed up wearing Uggs, it would “drive me crazy”.

“I’d immediately say to her, ‘Can you please just get rid of the boots, put the shoes on, and get ready to go?’” he recalled, before quipping: “And she got so sick of me saying that time after time, she thought I should join the cult of Ugg boots.”

(Getty Images For Universal Pictu)