Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer had a huge opening weekend, especially given that it’s an R-rated drama about scientists and communists. That would have been the story, except that Barbie exceeded all expectations, all tracking, all box office predictions and opened with $330 million-plus worldwide. I got emotional thinking about all of the calls Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig got this weekend – I’m sure many big-name directors, producers and executives called them to give them a personal “‘atta girl.” Speaking of, Quentin Tarantino made a point of going out this weekend in LA for a Barbenheimer double-feature:

No one is immune to the cultural craze that is “Barbenheimer” — including Quentin Tarantino. Moviegoers across the globe assembled over the weekend to celebrate the debut of both Greta Gerwig’s pink and plastic-permeated “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s atomic history piece “Oppenheimer.” With both films opening on the same day, many ticket buyers picked up same-day viewings of the films — Tarantino among them.

In a photograph posted to Twitter, a user snapped a picture of the filmmaker in Los Angeles with Roger Avary, his “Pulp Fiction” co-writer and co-host on the pair’s Video Archives Podcast. The caption shared that Tarantino walked across the street after seeing “Oppenheimer” to buy tickets for “Barbie,” going from the Westwood Village to the Regency Bruin Theatre.

Funnily enough, the Bruin was featured in Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood” in a sequence where Sharon Tate (played by Margot Robbie) buys a ticket to sit among strangers and watch a comedy that she’s starring in. Tarantino’s moviegoing experience replicates the pattern, as “Barbie” stars Robbie as the marquee doll. The official social media presence of the Video Archives podcast affirmed the description: “Yes our boys were out last night doing what they love to do the most together, seeing movies.”

[From Variety]

If you enjoy listening to Tarantino talk about movies and why going to see movies in the theater is a worthwhile experience, I would suggest listening to QT’s guest appearance on The Rewatchables podcast, where he argued (in 2019) that Dunkirk was Nolan’s best film. QT made a point of watching Dunkirk in a British theater and he said the experience changed his perspective on the story and film. Anyway, I’m not surprised – QT loves Nolan, so of course he would make a point of seeing Oppy opening weekend. And QT adores Margot Robbie, and I would assume Tarantino supports Greta completely. This was genuinely cool.

Yes our boys were out last night doing what they love to do the most together, seeing movies 🫡 https://t.co/9IbsJtjA3G

— The Video Archives Podcast (@VideoArchives) July 23, 2023

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.