When the first pictures of Margot Robbie playing the title role of “Barbie” were released, everyone knew it would be the movie of summer 2023. Shortly after the announcement, fashion labels quickly began to dress their models in hot pink — most memorably Valentino and Versace — and this hot trend covered the runway for most of 2022 and part of 2023. In January, Pantone even declared the color of 2023 “Viva Magenta,” designating this year’s color a vibrant shade of pink, similar to the one Barbie frequently has worn.

Both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” caused an immense surge in movie theater attendance, bringing in $337 million and $175 million respectively in their first debut weekend, according to TIME Magazine. Currently, “Barbie” has surpassed $1.3 billion at the global box office.

On TikTok, the app’s users began to share what outfits they were wearing to “Barbie” or “Oppenheimer,” creating videos where they entered the movie theater fully decked out in either hot pink or charcoal outfits. This even sparked a debate among users across the platform over which movie they would see first and at what time (a common consensus was to watch “Oppenheimer” in the morning and “Barbie” in the afternoon).

In terms of records, “Barbie” had the most success ever in the box office for a Warner Bros. movie and it is currently the highest grossing movie by a female director (Greta Gerwig).

Student Takes: Team “Barbie” or Team “Oppenheimer”?

“I liked ‘Barbie’ more because it showed strong, independent women creating a future for themselves that sets a good example for other young women,” Besa Liese ’25.

“I preferred ‘Barbie’ for the entertainment value because at least it was funny, even if I don’t agree with its core principles of promoting capitalism. ‘Oppenheimer’ was just not a good movie; the only thing that redeemed it was Cillian Murphy,” Ero Christy ’25.

“I chose ‘Barbie’ because it’s about having a cool, fun time. ‘Oppenheimer’ is just about a sad American making a bomb,” Jonathan Taylor ’26.

“‘Oppenheimer’ because I like physics so I very much like good movies or dramatic movies/TV series about some well-known physicists. I have previously seen a TV series about Einstein which is partially a documentary, partially a dramatic series, and ‘Oppenheimer’ was kind of similar to that. It’s also directed by Christopher Nolan, and I like that director. ‘Barbie’ was more like a promotion of social equality, which is interesting to me, but it’s not as central to my life as physics is,” Orion Wei ’24.

“I would prefer ‘Barbie’ because ‘Oppenheimer’ was very long, but I loved the whole ‘Barbie’ vibe. I watched the trailer [for Barbie] over and over, [and] I really liked the movie. I liked the whole set and all the doll things, and it was a really great movie,” Phineas McCulloch ’26.