What Hollywood can (and can't) learn from the strength of Barbenheimer

The jaw-dropping “Barbenheimer” box office numbers of this past weekend could change the movie industry, but only if the audience lets it.

That’s the blunt truth of this box office moment, one that’s hoisted film back into the global zeitgeist at a level it’s not been at in ages.

While films like Top Gun: Maverick, Avatar: The Way of Water and Spider-Man: No Way Home have brought back moviegoers en masse since the down days of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s hard to pinpoint a cultural moment for movies quite like “Barbenheimer” since perhaps Avengers: Endgame‘s release in 2019.

When that bombastic finale debuted in 2019, it felt like everyone stopped what they were doing and went to the movies. It was hard for people not to, as it was the culmination of a decade-plus of storytelling within the biggest film phenomena of the 2010s. Everyone wanted to see how it’d end.

The fact that a meme-ified double feature of the films Barbie and Oppenheimer reached the same audience heights of those bookend Avengers films and the return of Star Wars has to be telling in ways we weren’t prepared for a month ago.

The event-ifcation of pop culture is what brings in the dollars, and the future of movies will depend on more events-as-films to bubble up audience interest on a massive scale.

“Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” combined had the biggest box office weekend haul in North America since 2019, and the fourth-largest ever, before adjusting for inflation. It is a sign that Hollywood has, maybe, finally bounced back from the pandemic. https://t.co/LgN2MwDqX0 pic.twitter.com/71fhCV8Ur9

— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 25, 2023

Think about that. A grassroots effort to juxtapose a summer comedy about Barbie dolls and a three-hour historical epic has basically reached the same cultural heights and domestic box office domination of Star Wars: The Force Awakens‘ opening weekend in 2015.

It shows that, despite all the drama that has faced the motion picture industry and theatrical exhibition business since the dawn of streaming and the pains of the pandemic, people still really, really like to go to the movies.

Trying to predict what the studios will take from this moment is anyone’s guess. We’re locked within a historic set of strikes between the actors and writers, and we’re still dealing with the negative ramifications of the rushed streaming pivot. We’ve yet to see how Hollywood’s strike-fueled halt will fully impact the fall release calendar, and we’re not exactly sure how artificial intelligence will play into the future productions of films, which is part of why the actors and writers are striking.

While some of the summer’s big sequels haven’t quite reached expected benchmarks, an original Pixar film like Elemental has built a strong word-of-mouth box office since its tepid June debut. The biggest film of the year globally is The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which gave audiences a fresh adaptation of a generation-spanning Nintendo video game.

Are audiences clamoring for fresh ideas? Do they just want new franchises? Do they really care either way if the previews look good?

Everyone wants to find the meaning in “Barbenheimer,” a moment that will undoubtedly launch a Barbie franchise, help lock in Greta Gerwig as one of the few filmmakers in Hollywood that mainstream audiences recognize and further cement director Christopher Nolan as one of our all-time household names along the likes of Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese.

Just look at how Monday’s box office went to see the weight of this moment.

BREAKING #BARBENHEIMER NEWS!! #BARBIE made another $26.1 MILLION on Monday — Yes, MONDAY!! — bringing its domestic total to $188 MIL! (I was at the AMC Burbank last night & it was PACKED!) #OPPENHEIMER also did well on Monday with $12.6 MILLION & it will pass $100 MIL TOMORROW! pic.twitter.com/iABhHaCN4F

— Scott Mantz (@MovieMantz) July 25, 2023

However, Hollywood can only learn so much from this specific moment. What “Barbenheimer” will ultimately mean to the future of movies is up to the audience in the coming weeks, months and years. The frequency in which you go to the movies, and what you choose to invest your money on with your ticket purchases, will ultimately determine not just the meaning of “Barbenheimer,” but the ultimate future of the film industry.

Movie studios are reactive organizations, trying to follow audience trends and making calculated risks that will hopefully spark viewer interest. A few years ago, studios pushed all the chips in the idea that you’d be more and more inclined to stay at home to watch things, but then the pandemic happened and reminded everyone of why it’s nice to leave the house every now and again.

Big-ticket movies need theatrical sales to justify investment, and media companies are having to adjust to that idea with the recent streaming downtick. Theaters aren’t out of the woods post-pandemic, but they are once again glistening with their audience value after “Barbenheimer” weekend.

Ultimately, you’ll be the one who decides when to go to the movies again. You’ll make the memes. You’ll decide what’s worth venturing out to see and what you’d rather watch at home. We know we’ll get more toy movies with Barbie, and we know that ensemble-driven, Oscar-friendly films like Oppenheimer will always operate within a precious space of industry output.

However, studios are looking at you to make sense of what this means. They want to see what the next “Barbenheimer” meme will be. They’re all taking note of what happened this past weekend, and they’re most likely trying to map out the best way to capitalize on this. However, a lot of it is in your hands.

This past weekend, the moviegoing audience said it wanted “Barbenheimer,” and that’ll be a guiding light for the foreseeable future. What comes next? Probably more toy movies and biopics. After that? You’ll decide.