Cillian Murphy and Margot Robbie both have some thoughts about the Barbenheimer phenomenon.
Speaking with one another on Variety’s Actors on Actors, per a clip posted to Twitter by DiscussingFilm, Murphy and Robbie both reflected on how Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig’s Barbie played off one another when both films released in the United States on July 21, 2023.
“It was incredible [the hype around Barbenheimer, and it was self-generated, you know what I mean?” Murphy said.
“People kept asking me if the studios’ marketing departments are talking to each other,” Robbie added. “I was like, ‘No. This is the world doing this. This is not a part of the marketing campaign. This is just happening.’”
Murphy continued, “I think it happened because both movies were good. That’s the thing. There was sort of a diversity offered by both movies. In fact, that summer, there was a huge diversity of stuff in the cinema and, like, I think it just connected in a way that you, I, the studios, or anybody could never have predicted.”
Watch the full clip here:
How big of a hit at the box office were Barbie and Oppenheimer?
Murphy played J. Robert Oppenheimer in Nolan’s film, which also starred Robert Downey Jr., Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, and more. Oppenheimer made $953.2 million at the global box office off of a budget of $100 million.
Robbie, meanwhile, played the titular character in Gerwig’s Barbie, which she co-wrote with Noah Baumbach. Also starring Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, and Issa Rae, Barbie made $1.422 billion at the global box office off an estimated budget of $128-145 million.
Both Barbie and Oppenheimer are currently available to purchase on digital platforms such as Amazon, AppleTV+, and more. They are also both available to purchase on physical media.
