At first, nothing was predestined for the films of Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan to be so linked. And yet the “Barbenheimer” movement was born, a contraction of Barbiethe film by the American director of lady birdand D’oppenheimerthe director’s new feature film of interstellar, Beginning either Dunkirk. A Wikipedia page dedicated to the phenomenon has even been created.
All part of the common release date of the two films: July 19, 2023. It was enough then for Internet users to symbolically oppose the two blockbusters, whose budget is 100 million dollars each.
This identical release date announcement was especially accentuated by two completely different atmospheres of the two films: on the one hand the pink, the glitter and the feminism of Barbie against the darkness and the seriousness ofoppenheimer, which deals with the creation of the atomic bomb. What to ask a question on social networks: which one to see first?
“The people who will see Barbie first they are crazy. The schedule should be as follows: a black coffee, a cigar, seeoppenheimer for three hours, a brunch with mimosas, Barbie at around 4:00 p.m., dinner, cocktail and a disco to finish off”, says this Internet user, for example, whose tweet has accumulated nearly 300,000 likes.
Tweets viewed millions of times
Because the striking force of the “Barbenheimer” movement is also and above all based on the (very) numerous tweets dedicated to this healthy rivalry between the two feature films and above all on the interactions generated. With, very often, the ambition to see both films on the same day.
The tweets evoke all the themes: the marketing differences between the two films (beyond the excess by Barbievery discreet for oppenheimer), the distant atmospheres but also their commonalities. Some tweets, for example, generated millions of views on the social network, where much of this false rivalry was generated.
derivatives
Beyond the communication operations put in place by the teams of the two films, a true “Barbenheimer” marketing was created as the promotion of the two films progressed, with a whole panoply of derivative products. T-shirts, for example, are popular and many models have emerged.
Several bots (automated advertising accounts) have also been installed on Twitter to redirect to sites that sell these garments. Beneath many tweets evoking “Barbenheimer,” each person who comments is responded to by a bot with a link.
Faced with this relative rivalry, the teams of the two films have understood their interest in taking over the phenomenon. Margot Robbie, who plays Barbie in the film of the same name, for example, she posed in front of the poster ofoppenheimer with Greta Gerwig, her two admission tickets in hand.
Cillian Murphy, lead actor in Christopher Nolan’s film, was more discreet about the two films being released together, but said the latter was “beneficial for the industry and for admissions.”
And after several months of promotion, there is no doubt that viewers will multiply their tweets as of July 19, to feed this duo that has already become iconic.
Source: BFM TV
