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

[24 July 2023 16:30 · Inga Parkel]

Pavement react to surprise reference during Ken’s ‘mansplaining’ scene in Barbie

The Barbie soundtrack is jam-packed with tracks from artists such as Lizzo, Charli XCX, Nicki Minaj, and Dua Lipa – but there is one band reference that has surprised a number of fans.

Barbie has managed to live up to the hype that its worldwide marketing campaign drummed up, winning over audiences with its bubblegum pink aesthetic and clever script.

One element of the film that viewers did not expect, however, was a reference to Pavement. The California indie rock band is best known for hit tracks such as 1991’s “Debris Slide” and 2002’s “Here”.

Read more:

(Instagram)

Pavement react to surprise reference during Ken’s ‘mansplaining’ scene in Barbie

Fans of the band were delighted at the seemingly random reference from one of the Kens

[24 July 2023 16:00 · Inga Parkel]

Oppenheimer’s women: the true story of the brilliant, complicated female figures behind the famed physicist

(Getty / Universal)

Oppenheimer’s women: the true story of the brilliant, complicated female figures behind the famed physicist

In Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s new film about the inventor of the atomic bomb, Florence Pugh is the messy mistress Jean Tatlock, Emily Blunt the alcoholic wife. Annabel Nugent talks to historians and discovers the women’s true story to be worthy of a three-hour film of its own:

[24 July 2023 15:30 · Inga Parkel]

Incredible behind-the-scenes look at Barbie’s transportation sequences

Greta Gerwig said Barbie’s transportation sequences, which show the characters’ transition between the Real World and Barbieland, were intended to “look like a diorama in the Natural History Museum”.

Without the use of CGI, Ryan Gosling said they were able to use “old silent movie film techniques”.

[24 July 2023 15:00 · Peony Hirwani]

Oppenheimer sex scene sparks controversy among India’s Hindu right-wing groups

A sex scene in Oppenheimer involving Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh has sparked controversy among Hindu right-wing groups in India.

During the scene, Pugh’s character Jean Tatlock stops during intercourse and picks up a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, one of Hinduism’s holiest scriptures, and asks Murphy, who plays the lead role of Dr J Robert Oppenheimer, to read from it.

The scene has caused outrage among the Hindu ring-wing groups, with a politician from India’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) calling the film a “disturbing attack on Hinduism”. He accused it of being “part of a larger conspiracy by anti-Hindu forces”.

[24 July 2023 14:30 · Peony Hirwani]

Robert Downey Jr praises Cillian Murphy’s ‘great sacrifice’ for ‘behemoth’ Oppenheimer role

Robert Downey Jr has showered praise on his Oppenheimer co-star Cillian Murphy for his level of commitment to his portrayal of the film’s lead character.

[24 July 2023 14:00 · Peony Hirwani]

Pavement react to surprise reference during Ken’s ‘mansplaining’ scene in Barbie

The Barbie soundtrack is jam-packed with tracks from artists such as Lizzo, Charli XCX, Nicki Minaj, and Dua Lipa – but there is one band reference that has surprised a number of fans.

[24 July 2023 13:30 · Peony Hirwani]

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

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”.

[24 July 2023 13:00 · Peony Hirwani]

Christopher Nolan says Oppenheimer is ‘the biggest film I’ve ever made’

The Independent sat down with both Nolan and Cillian Murphy to discuss Oppenheimer.

During the chat, Nolan discussed his new film as well as his directing future while Murphy admitted: “I love watching Christopher Nolan’s films when I’m not in them.

Read the full interview here.

[24 July 2023 12:45 · Peony Hirwani]

Oppenheimer sex scene sparks controversy among India’s Hindu right-wing groups

A sex scene in Oppenheimer involving Cillian Murphy and Florence Pugh has sparked controversy among Hindu right-wing groups in India.

During the scene, Pugh’s character Jean Tatlock stops during intercourse and picks up a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, one of Hinduism’s holiest scriptures, and asks Murphy, who plays the lead role of Dr J Robert Oppenheimer, to read from it.

The scene has caused outrage among the Hindu ring-wing groups, with a politician from India’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) calling the film a “disturbing attack on Hinduism”. He accused it of being “part of a larger conspiracy by anti-Hindu forces”.

[24 July 2023 12:30 · Peony Hirwani]

Mission: Impossible struggles at box office against record-breaking might of Barbenheimer

Tom Cruise seems to be facing his very own Mission: Impossible as the latest movie in the action franchise, Dead Reckoning, continues to struggle at the box office against the dual releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer.

In its second weekend, Christopher McQuarrie’s Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One fell by 64 per cent to $19.5m (£15m) when going up against Barbie and Oppenheimer.