"The Next Barbenheimer?" Attempts

Submission 6,053

Part of a series on Barbenheimer. [View Related Entries]

About

"The Next Barbenheimer?" Attempts refers to efforts, usually by movie-focused websites and social media accounts, to connect movies of disparate tones that coincidentally happen to be opening on the same day and dub them "The Next Barbenheimer", usually replete with a portmanteau tying the two films together. Online, such attempts have been met with backlash, as users believe they are forced and lack the organic interest and meme creation behind the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon.

Origin

The "Barbenheimer" phenomenon, which saw people making memes about the simultaneous release of Greta Gerwig's Barbie and Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer, has been credited for driving both films to box office success,^[1] and in the wake of their releases, some film sites and fans began looking for other films scheduled to release on the same day that also had vastly different tones. The first of these centered around the horror film Saw X and the children's film PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie, both of which are scheduled to release on September 29th, 2023. On July 20th, 2023, Twitter user @AshleyLCarter dubbed the double-release Saw Patrol, comparing it to the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon.

Spread

Though it did lead to the creation of some memes, "Saw Patrol" was largely met with backlash online, as people felt it was forced. On August 1st, 2023, Twitter^[2] user @MosheIsaacian tweeted their theory on why "Barbenheimer" was a success and "Saw Patrol" would not be successful, gaining over 40 likes in one month (shown below).

Despite the backlash to "Saw Patrol," some publications and social media accounts have attempted to make "Barbenheimer-esque" tweets about other simultaneous film releases. On July 26th, 2023, Dexerto^[4] suggested the simultaneous release of Marvel's Kraven the Hunter and Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon could be a candidate, dubbing the potential phenomenon "Kraven of the Flower Moon."

On August 10th, 2023, Collider^[3] published a piece outlining more potential "Barbenheimers," citing the upcoming simultaneous releases of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and Trolls Band Together, The Fall Guy and Elio, and The Nun II and My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3 as potential "Barbenheimer"-esque releases. However, Collider did write that none of these simultaneous releases would likely recreate the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon, much less buoy the films to the same success as Barbie and Oppenheimer.

On August 31st, 2023, Twitter account @OneTakeNews^[5] noted that the concert film for Taylor Swift's Eras Tour and The Exorcist Believer were opening on the same day, dubbing the pair "#Exorswift" (shown below). The tweet saw backlash from people exhausted with the "Barbenheimer" recreation attempts,^[6] and mere hours after the tweet, Exorcist producer Jason Blum^[7] announced he was moving the release of his film up a week to avoid competing with the Eras Tour film (shown below, right).