One year ago, Hollywood watched a grassroots audience campaign absolutely light up the box office and capture the zeitgeist in generational fashion. It’s very fair to ask if we’ll ever see that again.
The “Barbenheimer” phenomenon remains a singular achievement for a reason. It wasn’t a genius Los Angeles public relations department that found the gleefully polar pairing of Barbie and Oppenheimer an idea double feature. It wasn’t an eye-opening joint studio marketing campaign, either.
It came from the audience, a perfect viral storm of genuine interest to make an event out of a trip to the movies. You just can’t predict moments like that, and you sure as heck can’t force them. The social sensation was a gigantic boost for movies in theaters, but it might not be repeatable.
If you’re looking for the glass being half-full or half-empty about theaters, you really can find the perfect paradox in “Barbenheimer.”
Half-full? Theatrical exhibition got its best turnout for an opening weekend since before the pandemic, showing a real appetite for seeing movies on the big screen. The theatrical experience weathered the worst of COVID-19 and the rise of streaming and came out on top with a starry Barbie movie and a historical drama from Christopher Nolan bringing people back in droves.
Half-empty? How do you make this specific event happen again? “Saw Patrol” didn’t exactly take off last fall, as it was more a meme of irony than an actual event people wanted to turn out to see. “Glicked” isn’t a sure bet either, as Gladiator II star Paul Mescal hopes movie fans will make a double showing out of his film and the first half of the Wicked adaptation.
The temperature on movie theaters feels erratic, as hand-wringing over a slow start to the summer has given way to a series of June/July blockbuster hits like Inside Out 2, Despicable Me 4, Bad Boys: Ride or Die, A Quiet Place: Day One and Twisters. Deadpool & Wolverine is also on the way and promises a financial windfall for Disney and lots of revenue for theaters.
The rest of the year feels like a mixed bag in terms of what could hit and what couldn’t, but a “Barbenheimer” spike isn’t coming anytime soon. Heck, we may never see that again. No studio or P.R. marketing campaign will be able to draw up that kind of audience interest; it will have to come from the moviegoers and the meme-makers who look at the calendar and find another double feature worth coronating as the heir apparent.
It’s not say we absolutely won’t see this happen again, as it’s hard to really predict the virality of any cultural moment that’s not a Taylor Swift album release or a set event on the global calendar like the Super Bowl.
However, the lesson of “Barbenheimer” that the entertainment industry should continue to value what audiences find appealing in a trip to a theaters. In a world where people stress about the price of concert tickets and sporting events aren’t exactly cheap, going to the movies remains one of the most cost-effective group activities for people looking to get out of the house.
Inside Out 2 and Despicable Me 4 in particular show a real desire from family audiences to beat the heat with their kids and get out of their typical routines, even if it’s a little pricey to do so.
It’s hard to believe it’s been a whole year since Barbie and Oppenheimer formed one of the most fascinating case studies in global box office history, but don’t count on seeing this repeat itself anytime soon.
Unless, that is, the audience makes it so. It’s ultimately up to them.
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