The success of ‘Barbenheimer’ means nothing for the movies

Greta Gerwig’s bubblegum fever dream “Barbie” gave clever nod to ill-fated Barbie Land dolls — such as pregnant Midge, Ken’s BFF Allan, Tanner the pooping pup and Growing Up Skipper, to name a few.“I think I got most of them in there,” Gerwig, 39, told IndieWire of brushing off the decades of dust on the misfit toys for the new summer flick.“There’s like a million of them.”Among the many popular iterations of Barbie over the last 64 years, these unfortunate few fell flat.The “weird,” as “Barbie” narrator Helen Mirren says, concept of the pregnant figurine was born into Mattel lore in 2002.Midge — whose full name is Margaret Hadley Sherwood in the Barbieverse — was originally billed as Barbie’s best friend, but was meant to be the “ugly sidekick” to Barbie’s “dream girl” persona, M.G. Lord, the author of “Forever Barbie: The Unauthorized Biography of a Real Doll,” told Buzzfeed News.When Midge, played by Emerald Fennell in the summer blockbuster, was launched in 1963, the redhead could fit in all of her bestie’s outfits.But that ended when she was re-released with her magnetic bump that revealed an infant inside — nevermind the anatomical logistics.

This Barbie has a strong core.

Wednesday isn’t a day like Tuesday, where there are cheap tickets up for sale, but that didn’t stop Warner Bros.’ Barbie from continuing its daily weekday $20M+ streak.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. David Grann’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” is back on the bestseller lists ahead of Martin Scorsese’s film adaptation, which premiered at Cannes Film Festival in May. The 2017 non-fiction book is set in 1920s Oklahoma, depicting a series of murders in the Native American Osage Nation and the investigation into the string of brutal crimes by the FBI.

As many predicted, Greta Gerwig‘s “Barbie” cleaned up at the box office this past weekend, with the film sitting just under $500 million worldwide. Will it break the $1 billion dollar barrier like star Margot Robbie predicted in her studio pitch? It certainly looks like it, and in such a tumultuous time for Hollywood, many people are happy about that.

There's a turning point in the movie, when Margot Robbie's Stereotypical Barbie realizes that the human influence that's been causing turmoil in her perfect Barbie Land life — flat feet, thoughts of death, and, worst of all, — is not a child at all, but a nostalgic mother.Mattel employee Gloria, played by America Ferrera, has been playing with the doll in the Real World and reminiscing about happier times with her now-sullen tween daughter, Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt). But as her adult-level worries took over, they also crept into Barbie Land, making things far less perfect then usual.When the trio return to Barbie Land to find that the Ken-led patriarchy has taken over, Barbie's existential crisis begins in earnest, but a rousing, epic monologue from Ferrera's character helps break the spell of masculine brainwashing and motivates the Barbies to take back their lives.The film was co-written by director Greta Gerwig and her partner, Noah Baumbach, but the monologue has Gerwig's signature style all over it.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director “Good Time” and “Uncut Gems” director Benny Safdie expands his acting career with a prominent supporting role in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer.” He plays Edward Teller, the real-life theoretical physicist known as “the father of the hydrogen bomb.” Teller joined Oppenheimer to work on the atomic bomb in Los Alamos, N.M., focusing on nuclear implosion and uranium hydride research. He was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, and had a thick accent, which presented Safdie with one of his biggest acting challenges. “The accent was something I was so nervous about,” Safdie recently told Vulture.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Traditionally a strong performer in the fall and holiday TV season, Food Network is sizzling this summer, too. From Memorial Day on May 27 through July 20, Food Network content has drawn more than 50.6 million total viewers across the linear TV channel, as well as Warner Bros. Discovery-owned streamers Max and Discovery+.

Barbie fans love more about the hottest movie of the year – aside from the pink, the cast, the vibes, and the pink – than spotting its hidden references and subtle Easter eggs sprinkled throughout.Fans have been poring over every pink detail of the highly-anticipated Greta Gerwig flick since the first trailer dropped, going into a hot pink frenzy with every “genius” tid bit uncovered.But since the film’s record-breaking release weekend, once Barbies and Kens had a chance to take in Barbieland’s full pastel glory, theories are swirling about the more subtle pop culture nods.One particular theory speculates that the film features a subtle cameo by Barbie’s biggest rival: the Bratz dolls.Fans have taken to social media to unpack their theory, honing in on the scene where Barbie (Margot Robbie) travels to the real world and goes to a high school while searching for the girl she believes is responsible for her existential crisis.At the school, she comes across a teenager named Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt) and her three friends who give the cowgirl-dressed Barbie a brutal reality check about her problematic history in the real world.“We haven’t played with Barbie since we were, like, five years old,” Sasha tells Barbie.“You’ve been making women feel bad about themselves since you were invented.”One TikTok user, Ivan Mars, posted a video saying it took him three trips to the cinema to realize the group of teens bear an eerie resemblance to the original four Bratz dolls named Yasmin, Sasha, Cloe, and Jade.And though the three friends – played by McKenna Roberts, Sasha Milstein, and Brylee Hsu – being unnamed “Junior High Friend” characters, their apparent ringleader Sasha shares not only a name, but a nickname with one of Barbie’s

Some fans are shelling out a lot of money for a chance to see Oppenheimer in IMAX.

William “Bill” Cunningham, who more than 50 years ago founded the company that became CESD Talent Agency, has died at 96. The agency said he died July 15 at his West Hollywood home but gave no other details.

Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr. might play adversaries in Oppenheimer, but the two actors can’t stop saying enough nice things about each other in real life.

Steven Spielberg and Paul McCartney recently attended a screening of Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer together.The pair were spotted outside a cinema in New York’s summer vacation hotspot the Hamptons on Monday (July 24). You can view the pair at the premiere below.McCartney and the famous director have known each other since 1986, when the former Beatle told Rolling Stone at the time that he sought out Spielberg’s advice on the possibility of making a movie about the Fab Four’s career.More recently, Spielberg noted that The Beatles song ‘Michelle’ from 1965’s ‘Rubber Soul’ brought back memories of his first kiss in college.Steven Spielberg and Paul McCartney were spotted at a theater to watch #Oppenheimer in the Hamptons on Monday July 24.

The Barbenheimer phenomenon just keeps going. To wit: there is so much energy happening at international box office turnstiles that Tuesday’s grosses on Warner Bros’ Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie and Universal’s Christopher Nolan opus Oppenheimer were down just 1% from Monday. The offshore gross through Tuesday on Barbie is now $258.5M with global at $472.6M.

Ryan Gosling’s anthem in the Barbie movie has become an instant pop culture phenomenon – but director Greta Gerwig had to do some slight coaxing to make it happen.  

Mattel is making a bunch more movies!

“Barbie” director Greta Gerwig didn’t anticipate both the massive success of the fantastical film and the unprecedented right-wing backlash the film has received online.

Brent Lang Executive Editor There’s nothing like some superhero flicks and family friendly blockbusters to turn things around at the box office. Revenues and profits at Imax jumped during the second quarter thanks to the commercial success of “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” and “The Super Mario Bros.

The ‘Barbenheimer’ reign has no end in sight!

the New York Times.“Certainly, there’s a lot of passion. My hope for the movie is that it’s an invitation for everybody to be part of the party and let go of the things that aren’t necessarily serving us as either women or men,” said Gerwig.“I hope that in all of that passion, if they see it or engage with it, it can give them some of the relief that it gave other people,” the director said.Gerwig was responding specifically to the interviewer’s question as to whether or not the “Lady Bird” director anticipated “the degree to which rightwing pundits are bashing the movie as being ‘woke’ and burning their Barbies.”Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro flamed the feminist themes in “Barbie” by lighting Barbie dolls and a pink toy car on fire at the start of a 43-minute YouTube review.

For those lucky enough to snag a ticket to a sold-out “Barbie” show, Ryan Gosling’s music number as Ken stole viewers’ hearts everywhere with its natural Ken-ergy.

Whoopi Goldberg is taking her love to the next level. The host of ABC's showed off her quirky footwear on Tuesday's broadcast, wearing white boots with a clear platform heel that was filled with decapitated Barbie doll heads.The style statement came as Goldberg, 67, was engaged in discussion about recent criticism of Greta Gerwig's blockbuster film, defending the movie against judgment from conservative columnist Ben Shapiro and Senator Ted Cruz.«It’s a movie!» she declared on the show. «It’s a movie about a doll!»She continued, «I thought y'all would be happy.

WARNING: Minor spoilers for “Barbie” ahead.Barbie is beautiful at any age.TikTok users are seeing themselves and the incredibly popular “aged” filter in a new light after a scene from the brand-new “Barbie” film released last week.In the film, Barbie (played by Margot Robbie) is forced to journey to the real world after she begins to “malfunction” by developing cellulite and having thoughts of death while living in the utopian Barbieland.While sitting on a bench in LA, the doll encounters an elderly woman (played by the film’s costume designer Ann Roth) and the duo engages in a brief but important conversation.“You’re so beautiful,” Babie comments to the woman. Roth, 91, then replies, “I know it!”The exchange left several viewers emotional due to the fact that Barbie — who has no concept of mortality or old age — finds the senior citizen beautiful.Since viewing the film, several social media users are reconsidering the filter while attempting to keep up the appreciation and confidence of the character.“Revisiting this filter after seeing Barbie, thinking of the ‘You’re so beautiful’ scene, and realizing this face isn’t so bad after all,” read the in-video text of a video posted by a woman named Savana.“I have a newfound appreciation for this filter after seeing the Barbie movie,” wrote another user adding that “aging is a privilege.”A third user said that she wanted to use the filter “right” after explaining that she once reacted to the filter in a negative way.“After watching that one Barbie scene I remembered my original reaction to this filter and decided I would do it right,” said TikToker Hazel.

Barbie director Greta Gerwig has a graceful approach when it comes to handling the blockbuster’s biggest critics.

To say Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” is a hit is a gross understatement. Not only did the film wow critics, with a great 90% on Rotten Tomatoes, but the comedy has connected with the general public in a massive way, earning a huge $162 million in its first three days.

Tim Gray Senior Vice President Mick Jagger may be turning 80 on July 26, but really he seems ageless. As a rock icon, the Rolling Stone has been honored for his singing, his stage moves and his songwriting. Less celebrated, but worth noting, is his work as an actor.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Before Christian Bale landed the role of Batman/Bruce Wayne in Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy, the filmmaker screen-tested his “Oppenheimer” star Cillian Murphy. Both men have since admitted that Murphy was never a real threat to steal the part from Bale, and Murphy told GQ Magazine UK in a recent interview that it “was for the best” that Bale won the coveted role over him anyway. “Yes, I think it was for the best because we got Christian Bale’s performance, which is a stunning interpretation of that role,” Murphy said.

released a massive version of the iconic Mattel doll wearing her black and white bathing suit and sunglasses on Monday.The video, which has since received nearly 410,300 views, shows the doll ripping open the plastic cover of her box as she climbs out and strikes a pose in front of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, which has been dubbed the “world’s tallest building” standing at 2,722 feet.The virtual doll, the latest in several marketing ploys for Greta Gerwig’s highly-anticipated film, is pulled from the teaser trailer released in December 2022 featuring Margot Robbie, who plays the title role, in the same suit.“The reason people think we spent so much is that it’s so ubiquitous,” Warner Bros. president of global marketing Josh Goldstine told Variety. “Because it pierced the zeitgeist, it has the impression that we spend so much.”“In fact, we spent responsibly for an event movie,” continued Goldstine.The Post reached out to Warner Bros.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Greta Gerwig told The New York Times that watching her “Barbie” movie become a historic comedy blockbuster has been “so amazing.” The film debuted to a whopping $162 million, breaking the opening weekend record for a female director. It then scored $26 million on its first Monday after release, setting a new Warner Bros. in-house record for the studio’s top Monday grosser.

Cillian Murphy has discussed his experience working with Robert Downey Jr. on Oppenheimer, describing him as the most “engaged” actor he’s ever worked with.Murphy, who plays physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer in Christopher Nolan’s biopic, praised his co-star’s performance in an interview with GQ.“A lot of the scenes I have with Downey, it was quite loose and quite improvisational,” Murphy said.

Naman Ramachandran Hugh Grant’s casting as an Oompa Loompa in “Wonka” has been criticized by an actor with dwarfism. The film belongs to the universe created by British author Roald Dahl in 1964 novel “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” It is directed by Paul King (“Paddington”) and produced by Heyday Films, Village Roadshow Pictures and Warner Bros.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Tom and Jerry,” one of the most iconic animation franchises in history, is to get a localized new version made with Southeast Asian audiences in mind. The cat and mouse duo will take their chases to the streets, buildings and cityscapes of Singapore in a 7 x 3-minute series of shorts, produced locally in Asia, and in association with Warner Bros. Animation.

Barbie is a box-office success and has been receiving positive reviews for its diversity, inclusion and positive message. However, certain political circles have taken aim at the Greta Gerwig-directed film and the director is giving her take on the backlash.

Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer dropped more than one bomb on viewers as it exploded onto screens over the weekend.

Cillian Murphy’s Oppenheimer co-star Robert Downey Jr. is praising him for his performance as J. Robert Oppenheimer.

“Barbie” movie premiered on Friday and broke box office records as people across the country rushed to theaters to see the pretty in pink feminist film. With an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the majority of viewers seem to have enjoyed the comedy, directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie, but not everyone felt the Ken-ergy.