Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ll know that this time tomorrow both Barbie and Oppenheimer, the most anticipated movies of the summer, will be in cinemas.
Fondly dubbed ‘Barbenheimer’ by fans for sharing the same release date of July 21, 2023, it will be exciting to see how both films perform at the box office after individually garnering early rave reviews.
Both Barbie and Oppenheimer received four and a half stars out of five from Metro.co.uk and many people are booked and ready to go for a double bill at their local multiplex.
Although some are pitting the films against each other, many are hoping to see them both do well in a win for film fans and the industry overall, with Oppenheimer’s leading man Cillian Murphy and Barbie’s director Greta Gerwig both supporting the idea of opening day back-to-back viewings.
However, this is not the first time that big movies have shared the same opening day – let’s take a look back at some of the big ones over the past few decades…
*These are all fact-checked and based on IMDb’s US release dates.
Mamma Mia! vs The Dark Knight
This head-to-head is one that has taken fans’ fancy recently as they belatedly realise that both this joyous star-studded ABBA musical, fronted by Meryl Streep, and Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan’s gritty Batman sequel shared the same US release date of July 18, 2008.
Therefore, this is not Nolan’s first rodeo when it comes to a massive shared release date.
As the comparison with Barbenheimer was made, people had fun retrospectively naming this double bill as ‘The Dark Mamma’ and joking that it ‘walked so Barbenheimer could run’.
Both were well-received and performed strongly at the box office, with Mamma Mia! earning $611million while The Dark Knight managed a huge $1.006billion.
They also returned for sequels, with The Dark Knight Rises out in 2012 and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again finally gracing our screens in 2018.
The Matrix vs 10 Things I Hate About You
Back nearly 25 years ago, we had a modern sci-fi classic in The Matrix and a modern rom-com classic come out on March 31, 1999.
Although it was The Matrix that dominated financially at the time and drew the most fans to the cinema, both have endured with fans.
In fact, 10 Things I Hate About You came to be regarded as one of the most iconic coming-of-age-films, outlasting competition from the same year including She’s All That and Varsity Blues.
It also boasted a charming breakout performance from a young Heath Ledger who would soon be blasted into the upper echelons of Hollywood after 2001’s A Knight’s Tale before The Dark Knight eventually – and tragically – became his final role, earning him a posthumous Oscar.
Meanwhile Keanu Reeves will forever be linked with his portrayal of Neo in The Matrix, which has (so far) spawned three sequels.
Cats vs Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker
Remember this one? Just before Christmas in 2019 (December 20 in the US, to be precise) was quite the time to be alive – and the films’ release in the UK was only separated by one day.
On the one hand we had the final film in the later trilogy of Star Wars sequels, Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker, wrapping up the story for Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Finn (John Boyega) as well as classic stars Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamil.
On the other, we had the heavily CGI’d version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats, directed by Tom Hooper, who openly admitted it had been a rush to get everything finished in time for the release – and it wasn’t quite…
Sadly, not even the involvement of Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen or Idris Elba could save it from being a flop.
Ghostbusters vs Gremlins
Quite a bold move, given the superficial similarities of both sci-fi ‘creature’ films, Ghostbusters and Gremlins shared the same US opening day of June 8, 1984.
Of course, both created legacies, produced sequels and have gone on to be loved by more than on generation of film fan.
Ghostbusters boasted stars like Sigourney Weaver, Bill Murray and Dan Akroyd, while Gremlins was more about younger unknowns, with Zach Galligan in the main role of Billy who most definitely feed his Gremlin after midnight…
Tidily, they both managed to achieve similar opening weekend box office results, with Ghostbusters on $13.5m and Gremlins on $12.5m, before finishing the year in second and fourth place respectively, on $229m and $148m each.
Jumanji vs Heat
This was an opening day very much geared around targeting two different audiences on December 15, 1995.
For Jumanji, family audiences were offered an imaginative and adventurous caper with just the right amount of fright, starring the wonderful Robin Williams.
In Heat, older cinemagoers were being offered the irresistible combination of Al Pacino and Robert De Niro in the same film again – and this time even sharing scenes.
Elf vs Love Actually
Yes, two films based around Christmas really did debut on the same day in the US on November 7, 2003 – although it was an initially limited release for Love Actually.
Both it and Elf have gone on to routinely feature in lists of festive films perfect to watch for the run up to Christmas.
It can probably be argued, however, that the broad comedy of such a naïve hero in Will Ferrell’s Buddy has aged a bit better than the slightly dated gender politics of Love Actually.
Barbie and Oppenheimer release in UK cinemas on Friday, July 21.
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