Summary
- The "Barbenheimer" trend, which involves watching both Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig's Barbie together, gained popularity and contributed to the success of both movies.
- A 14-year-old animator, known for creating LEGO animations, made a short clip depicting Barbenheimer in the LEGO universe, which was well-received by fans of both movies.
- Fans are now clamoring for more Barbenheimer LEGO content and are hoping for a full-length movie, and there is interest in Cillian Murphy potentially playing Ken Doll in a LEGO movie sequel to Barbie.
Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer and Greta Gerwig's Barbie dropped last week simultaneously. Both movies had utterly different aesthetics, yet both had one of the most successful openings of 2023 and even went on to break multiple records. Now, a Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse artist combined both worlds using LEGO.
For those unfamiliar, the Barbenheimer social media trend is a nickname given to both movies due to their simultaneous release. The Barbenheimer trend involves double featuring, meaning watching the two films together. Both blockbuster movies were set to release on the same day. What started as a rivalry between fans of both movies ended up with many audiences seeing both on the same day. The trend received a boost from memes and is partially the reason behind the success of both movies. Notable stars like Oppenheimer director Nolan and Tom Cruise followed the trend and did a double feature of Oppenheimer and Barbie.
Following the trend of the Barbenheimer meme, @LegoMe_TheOG, a 14-year-old animator, made a short 14-second clip of Barbenheimer imagined in the LEGO universe. The young, talented animator has expertise in making LEGO animations, as he was the one who animated the LEGO sequence in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Fans of both movies love the short animation.
The clip depicts what appears to be LEGO J. Robert Oppenheimer and Barbie holding hands in a desert area. Barbie tells J. Robert Oppenheimer that they should leave before they get blasted. As they do so, fans see a LEGO explosion resembling the nuclear explosion from Oppenheimer, but with a pink color matching the aesthetics of the Barbie movie. Despite being a fan animation, the quality of the clip is on par with that of an official LEGO movie.
Fans are now hungry for more Barbenheimer LEGO content and are demanding a full-length movie. Judging by the success of Barbie, a sequel to the movie is almost inevitable. However, the same cannot be said for Oppenheimer, as the film was intended as a one-time movie with no room for a sequel. Nonetheless, Cillian Murphy, the star of Oppenheimer, has shown interest in playing Ken Doll in a Barbie sequel.
While Ryan Gosling currently plays the role, Cillian Murphy could technically portray Ken Doll in a LEGO movie if they decide to make one. Moreover, it would be a nice change of pace for Cillian, as he's predominantly played dark and restrictive roles in the past. Nevertheless, Cillian is a versatile actor and would excel in the role of Ken Doll.
Oppenheimer and Barbie are now playing in theaters.
Source: @LegoMe_TheOG/Twitter