Against all odds, a toy-based movie without the word "Story" in its title and a three-hour film about a nuclear physicist have joined forces to give us one of the biggest pop culture moments of the year.
And whenever anything — a piece of art, a marketing campaign, a live event, or in this case, all three — is this successful, I naturally jump to the question, "Okay, so what is there to learn from this?" But this is a rare instance where I feel like we actually didn't learn that much at all. If anything, Barbenheimer is just a perfect exhibit of what we already know.
More specifically...
The only thing hotter than NPC TikToks is nostalgia. Some people have referenced Barbenheimer as evidence that movie watchers are craving new stories rather than another branch on the Marvel family tree, and I think this is absolutely true. But let's not overlook the fact that the more financially successful of these two films, Barbie, is based around one of the most successful toys of all-time. Many of the people watching this movie probably had their closet carpeted with Barbies as a kid. Milking this connection people have to their youth (albeit while crafting what appears to be a very thoughtful storyline around it) falls right in line with the Eras tour and HBO's upcoming Harry Potter series in a growing thirst for nostalgia.
The top films will still thrive in theaters. The fate of the theater industry is still very much in jeopardy, but that's because fewer people are casually going to the movies now to watch a film they don't really care about, and theaters need those leisure dollars. Netflix has made your couch the prime real estate for a lazy Friday night or first date rather than the movie theater. But that doesn't mean appointment movies won't still be released. Top Gun: Maverick did plenty to prove last year that people will still go see the most hyped movies of the year in theaters. I really hope Barbenheimer reminds people how much fun it is to go to a theater and the whole industry gets a lift, but anyone citing Barbenheimer as proof that "theaters are back" are overreacting. For theaters to actually be "back," we need more than the top-tier movies to thrive in cinemas, and case in point: can you name a third movie being shown in theaters right now?
Memes are still the best advertising, but you can't meme your way to success. Barbie seemingly had the budget of NASA just for marketing, and they weren't afraid to use it. But while Barbie was made by Greta Gerwig and Oppenheimer was made by Christopher Nolan, Barbenheimer was made by the internet. Sometimes you just have to get lucky and hope the youths find something funny in you. Both films would have been successful without the meme, but they would not have left the same pop culture crater.
So maybe Barbenheiner isn't a revolution. It's still a revelation of some of these driving forces in art and film today, and don't expect those to change anytime soon.
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