Barbie is shaping up to be one of the biggest hits of the year, rocketing out of the gates to become the biggest opening by a female director in movie history at $356 million, and in with a chance of joining the billion-dollar box office club.
This means the much-heralded “Barbenheimer” battle with Oppenheimer has proven to be somewhat one-sided, though perhaps an all-ages comedy has a lot more appeal than a sobering three-hour meditation on nuclear weapons. That said, Oppenheimer is no slouch and has so far racked up $180 million at the international box office.
Throughout this, there’s been a friendly sense of competition between these very different movies, and now Cillian Murphy has confessed he’d love to pop up as a Ken in the inevitable Barbie sequel:
Speaking to Cinefilo, he said:
“Would I play a Ken in Barbie 2? Sure, let’s read the script. Let’s have a conversation.”
Given Barbie’s playful and self-referential comedy, we wouldn’t be surprised to see Murphy pop up as a nuclear researcher or quantum physics professor Ken. Naturally, this Ken would have to be quieter and more intense, perhaps occasionally moodily staring into the camera while wearing a trilby.
Barbie and Oppenheimer‘s mutual success will see studios and theater chains breathing a big sigh of relief. This summer has seen two unexpected flops in The Flash and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, with even Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One somewhat underperforming.
Let’s hope that Barbie 2 gets fast-tracked and hits screens as soon as humanly possible.