Margot Robbie Is Responsible for 'Barbenheimer'

It looks like we have Margot Robbie to thank for the phenomenon that was Barbenheimer after she refused to move Barbie's release date.

Oppenheimer—starring Cillian Murphy and directed by Christopher Nolan—hit cinema screens on July 21. This was the same day that Barbie—directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Robbie—was being released too, which Robbie refused to budge.

The two films couldn't be any more different. One is a comedy based on the popular doll's journey to becoming a woman and the other is a biographical thriller about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the physicist who oversaw the invention of the atomic bomb. What followed was something that hadn't been seen in film history before. While many expected one film's success to dwarf the other, the opposite happened. The release date clash led to the coining of the term "Barbenheimer," a nod to the headline-making rivalry, and each film boosted the other.

People shared their plans to see both movies on the same day and the whole experience birthed memes and double-feature TikToks. The public also uploaded photos online of the costumes they wore to theaters to experience Barbenheimer. Robbie and Murphy sat down for Variety's talk show Actors on Actors to discuss the phenomenon.

"Christopher Nolan was always determined that [Oppenheimer] would be released in the summer as a big tent-pole movie. That was always his plan. And he has this kind of superstition around that date," Murphy revealed.

"I mean it's a good date, we picked that date too," Robbie responded. "I remember one of your producers, Chuck Roven, called me, 'cause we worked together on some other projects and he was like, 'I think you guys should move your date.' And I was like, 'We're not moving our date. If you're scared to be up against us, then you move your date.' And he's like, 'We're not moving our date. I just think it'd be better for you to move.' And I was like, 'We're not moving. I think this is a really great pairing, actually. I think it's a perfect double billing, Oppenheimer and Barbie.'"

"That was a good instinct," Murphy said.

It's clear that the world agreed as the films sharing a release date has proven successful. Barbie has made more than $1.4 billion at the box office worldwide and Oppenheimer recently hit $950 million. It's hard to imagine either film doing as well without this double billing.

"I think that both of these films show the appetite that the audience has for cinema," Murphy said.

"The fact that people were going and being like, 'Oh, watch Oppenheimer first, then Barbie.' I was like, 'See? People like everything.' People are weird. People have specific and wide-ranging tastes," Robbie continued.

Murphy agreed, saying audiences "don't like being told what to do." He added that they "don't like being told 'you should see this or you should see that.' They will decide, and they will generate the interest themselves."

The two actors also touched on the memes that were generated throughout the press cycle for both movies. Murphy, who once said he didn't know what a meme was in a 2017 interview, said he has his two teenage sons to thank for educating him. When Robbie asked if he had seen any of the Barbenheimer fan art, Murphy explained it was "impossible to avoid" and he had people showing him viral moments surrounding both movies.

"Weren't there some great ones? People are so clever. People kept asking me, 'So is each marketing department talking to each other?' And I was like, 'No, this is the world doing this! This is not a part of the marketing campaign,'" Robbie explained.

Murphy added: "And I think it happened because both movies were good. In fact, that summer, there was a huge diversity of stuff in the cinema, and I think it just connected in a way that you or I or the studios or anybody could never have predicted."

The pair agreed that the Barbie and Oppenheimer phenomenon is something you can't force or orchestrate—and it may never happen again.

Murphy's team declined to comment when contacted by Newsweek on Wednesday.

Newsweek has reached out to representatives for Robbie for comment via email.

Ramin Setoodeh, Variety's co-editor-in-chief, has since revealed that having Robbie and Murphy interview each other for Actors on Actors was his dream. As it turned out, it was something the two actors wanted too.

Setoodeh posted on X, formerly Twitter: "Pulling off this Barbenheimer cover was all I wanted for this year's edition of Actors on Actors. Before I even had to ask, Cillian Murphy's team reached out to say he was wondering if we could pair him with Margot Robbie. And she quickly said yes."