Move over Taylor Swift, summer's hottest ticket is a "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" double feature.
AMC Theaters this week announced that more than 20,000 members of its AMC Stubs loyalty program have purchased tickets to watch the unlikely cinematic pairing on the same day.
Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" and Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" have been slated for a July 21 release for the past year. The juxtaposition between the bright and bubbly "Barbie" and the dour, nuclear bomb drama has led internet users to declare "Barbenheimer" a must-see double feature.
Fans have created T-shirts, posters and have been following the marketing for both films closely.
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"[This] is a great sign that the growing online conversation around seeing both of these incredible films is turning into ticket sales," AMC Theaters VP of programming Elizabeth Frank said in a statement shared with Variety.
"From Friday to today, we saw a 33% increase in the number of guests who decided to create their own double feature by purchasing tickets to see both movies on the same day," she added. "We are thrilled to see this momentum."
Money Report
As recently as the end of last month, "Barbie" was tracking for an $80 million opening weekend, while forecasts for "Oppenheimer" were in the $40 million range.
With a combined runtime of 5 hours and 9 minutes, not including trailers, the "Barbenheimer" double feature will require fans to make a substantial time commitment.
Tom Cruise, whose "Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One" is releasing a week and a half before the two rival blockbusters hit cinemas, recently tweeted his support for both films.
But he won't be watching them the same day.
"I want to see both 'Barbie' and 'Oppenheimer,'" Cruise said. "I'll see them opening weekend. Friday, I'll see Oppenheimer' first and then 'Barbie' on Saturday."
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