Last year, cinemas around the world braced themselves for “Barbenheimer,” the double feature of Barbie and Oppenheimer. It was the event of the year, and now, six months later, it’s back again, but in a much more different form.
With the nominees for the 96th Academy Awards officially out and people roiling at some of the candidates, it’s safe to say that most of the nominees this year were to be expected. We all knew that movies like Killers of the Flower Moon and Poor Things would be nominated for Best Picture, Da’Vine Joy Randolph would be nominated for Best Supporting Actress and be the clear frontrunner, and, of course, Barbie and Oppenheimer would receive a plethora of nominations. It’s not just because they were popular, something that the Academy has shamelessly pivoted toward in recent years to combat declining ratings, but because they were some of the best movies last year. Personally, I would rank them in my Top 5 films of last year, alongside Godzilla Minus One, The Holdovers, and Across the Spider-Verse.
But now people are up in arms about Barbie’s treatment at the Academy Awards and its snubs. Yes, Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie did not get nominations for Best Director and Best Actress, respectively. But I didn’t see them having any chance of winning either category since there are better and more deserving nominees (where are the nominations for Past Lives?), but I’m aware I’m in the minority on that. In my eyes, the real story of the 96th Academy Awards is about the other half of Barbenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. Despite not being as popular or as commercially successful, the slow-burn success of Oppenheimer is the more compelling story of this Oscar season, one that might culminate with Nolan’s first Best Picture win.
Of course, calling Oppenheimer not as commercially successful or as popular as Barbie is a bit of a joke. The film made $955 million at the box office and has been critically praised by virtually everyone to the point where I can count the number of people I’ve talked to who disliked Oppenheimer on one hand. It’s a magnificent film that justifies a three-hour runtime and is so compelling and captivating that I’m still haunted by that last scene. Yet, given that it’s an R-rated biopic about a bunch of scientists and numerous scenes about government hearings, its audience isn’t as wide-reaching as Barbie‘s. Barbie was a bright and colorful social media sensation, not just because of its solid humor, fantastic performances, and star-studded soundtrack, but because it had genuinely affecting moments that tugged at the heartstrings.
Barbie was a movie that was much easier to market, and thanks to its shorter runtime, more screenings of it could be shown throughout a single day, way more than Oppenheimer. But since its release, the fanbase and fervor surrounding Oppenheimer became more determined and passionate. It wasn’t as vocal as other fanbases, but they showed their passion differently. When Oppenheimer had an IMAX rerelease near the end of the summer, people showed up. When Oppenheimer got a physical release, it sold out multiple times over, disproving many corporations who are still actively pushing the narrative that no one wants to buy physical media. Oppenheimer became an emblem of the power of ownership, and while the why of that whole argument is an entirely different story, that story helped make it one of the best-selling home media releases of the holiday season.
Related: An Oppenheimer Producer Told Margot Robbie to Move Barbie’s Release Date
As we got closer and closer to the end of 2023, most of the discussion around Barbie faded away. It had its time in the sun as a summer blockbuster, but much like other major summer hits, the further we got away from the initial release, the less people actively cared about it. People weren’t in a fervor over its physical release, and most of its long-lasting impact was in the form of memes. Not to discredit the staying power of memes, but people, myself included, tend to only think of Barbie in moments as opposed to its entire experience, which is what Oppenheimer excelled at. When you think about Oppenheimer, you think about all three hours of it. Because of that, the interest in Oppenheimer didn’t go away- it stayed in the conversation. Now, Oppenheimer is leading most major awards shows in nominations, and the Academy Awards are no different.
Oppenheimer has the most nominations for this year’s Academy Awards with a grand total of thirteen, ranging from categories like Best Actor and Best Sound to, of course, Best Picture. For comparison’s sake, Barbie is nominated for a respectable eight categories and is probably going to win several of them. I would be shocked if it didn’t win Best Original Song or even Production Design, but the odds are stacked against it. It’s also interesting when you compare the two films in categories they’re both nominated in. Yes, both Barbie and Oppenheimer are nominated for Production Design, and I think Barbie is a lock for it, but in nearly every other category where the two films compete, the odds are favoring Oppenheimer.
Take, for example, Best Supporting Actor. Back in the summer, all that I could hear in the film circles I ran in was how Best Supporting Actor was going to be a showdown between Ryan Gosling and Robert Downey Jr. for their roles in Barbie and Oppenheimer, respectively. And there’s merit in that claim. They’re both great and really do a lot to elevate their movies into what they are. Now, that chatter has all but faded away as Robert Downey Jr. has become the clear frontrunner. Ryan Gosling is still discussed, but not as much as before. Plus, if Robert Downey Jr. was going to lose, it wouldn’t be to Ryan Gosling but rather to Mark Ruffalo and his performance in Poor Things.
Look, awards shows are ultimately a pointless endeavor. Whether it’s the Academy Awards or the Game Awards, no one awards show will ever accurately summarize the state of their industry for the year they’re honoring. Each person will have different perspectives, and even then, no one will ever be unanimously in favor of one winner when directly compared to all other nominees. But if we are going to squabble over whether Barbie or Oppenheimer gets to take home a shiny little gold statue, I think that since Barbie won the battle of the box office, Oppenheimer will win the awards show battles. Which battle you think is more important is up to you.
