Barbenheimer - Ten Great Box Office Showdowns
by Christopher James
This is the summer of "Barbenheimer". What started as a rivalry has morphed into a marketable double feature. In a way, they’ve hyped each other up, making this past weekend (July 21st-July 23rd) the most exciting and anticipated movie weekend of the summer. Both movies exist at opposite poles of the gendered film divide to a comical degree - the hot pink colored Barbie against king of the film-bros Christopher Nolan and his three hour 70mm extravaganza, Oppenheimer. The ultimate winner is the audience, who get two big-budget auteur-driven swings in one weekend. (Barbie won but both movies had huge opening weekends which will talk about tonight when the actuals come in)
This isn’t the only time counterprogramming has pitted a “boy movie” and “girl movie” against each other for a star-studded showdown. Here are our top 10 box office showdowns that served as fabulous precursors for Barbenheimer...