Much has been made of the cinematic battle of the century that’s set to go down on July 21 of next year, when Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer goes head-to-head with Greta Gerwig’s Barbie in the ultimate example of cinematic counter-programming.
One is the hotly-anticipated latest feature from one of the most consistently acclaimed (and Academy Award-nominated) directors in the business, with a star-studded ensemble cast bringing a string of historically important figures to the big screen in a project that has the potential to win near-universal critical and commercial acclaim, while the other is Oppenheimer.
After the teaser for Nolan’s next effort was attached to Universal stablemate NOPE, it was only a matter of time before it landed online. That day was today, and almost as soon as the brief promo was made available to the masses, fans were demanding that Barbie retaliate as next summer’s blockbuster battle continues to heat up.
Of course, Barbie is still in the midst of production as the myriad of set photos and videos to have made their way online have shown, but things are reaching the end of the road after several talents on either side of the camera bid farewell to the plastic world. It would be on-brand for Barbie to embrace the war against Oppenheimer, but we’ll just need to wait and see if Gerwig bites to continue the competition that we didn’t ask for or weren’t expecting, but are damn sure glad we got.
Less than one year from today, theaters around the world will be jam-packed, but which title takes precedence?
