Margot Robbie says Oppenheimer’s producer asked her to change Barbie’s release date

Margot Robbie says Oppenheimer’s producer asked her to change Barbie’s release date – In a chat with Cillian Murphy, the actress recalled how she experienced the Barbenheimer phenomenon.

By Megan Sauer

Barbenheimer was the name of a very particular phenomenon that benefited two major premieres this year. On the one hand came Barbie an adaptation by Greta Gerwig that sought to send a message about existence itself through light comedy; and on the other side was Oppenheimer Christopher Nolan ‘s production about the father of the atomic bomb that hoped to reflect the complexities of man without falling into limited concepts about morality.

Unexpectedly, the confrontation on the billboard of these films was a great event that many will surely try to replicate, but that could not have happened in the first place, and Margot Robbie has just revealed that a producer of the biopic asked her to change the premiere in cinemas of the famous doll.

The global pandemic meant many problems for the industry, since for several weeks movie theaters around the world remained closed without exceptions.

Many productions and filming were affected by this, but companies also lost millions because they had to make radical decisions about their most important releases without knowing if one day everything would return to normal or they were establishing a new routine with the consumer.

Some titles were removed from the agenda waiting for a future opportunity, while others decided to launch immediately on streaming in support of the different platforms that were formed from one moment to the next, and some more decided to make dual releases when the cinemas opened. in a limited way.

All this was also a problem for the creators who wanted to see their work on the big screen and who fought against the executives to achieve their goal. One of the directors who firmly maintained his decision was Christopher Nolan, who was preparing the arrival of Tenet and who finally terminated his contract with Warner Bros. due to this lawsuit.

Margot Robbie and Cillian Murphy on Actors on Actors (Source: Variety)

Barbenheimer exploited the qualities of both works to the maximum.

Nolan found greener pastures at Universal and was able to freely prepare Oppenheimer, while Warner prioritized Barbie for a summer release. Some people even claimed that the production company had taken the same release day as the biopic as revenge against the director, but in reality, it was all a strategy to avoid fighting with franchise installments.

This led to the Barbenheimer phenomenon that motivated moviegoers to spend the entire day at the theater to enjoy two films that on the surface looked very different.

Margot Robbie says she was asked to change ‘Barbie’ premiere

Both films became major hits in their respective areas; Oppenheimer breaking records as a biopic with an adult rating, and Barbie exceeding expectations to make Greta Gerwig one of the most important directors in Hollywood history.

The event also proved that the public was ready to pay attention to original offerings instead of the usual material and the benefits arose for all involved. However, during a chat with Cillian Murphy for Variety ‘s Actors on Actors, Margot Robbie revealed that an Oppenheimer producer asked her to change her premiere:

“I remember one of the producers, Chuck Roven, called me, we had worked together on other projects, and he said, ‘I think you should change your date.’ I was like, ‘We’re not changing our date, if you’re afraid to confront us, then you change your date.”

He said, ‘We’re not changing our date, I just think it would be better for you to change it.’ And I said, ‘We’re not moving, I think this is a great couple.’ It’s a perfect double feature, Barbie and Oppenheimer.’

Murphy recognized his colleague’s instinct and said that part of the success was because both offers were excellent and novel, something the public had been asking for some time.

In fact, the profits from these films show that superhero adaptations and more conventional action franchises are losing ground on the billboard and although they will not disappear from one moment to the next, Barbie and Oppenheimer did help prepare the arrival of other projects of the same style.