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Barbie, a vibrant and colorful film aimed at a broad audience, rapidly climbed box office charts, poised to become the highest-grossing film of the year. Meanwhile, Oppenheimer, a serious and R-rated historical drama about the physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the development of the atomic bomb, broke records for rated-R movies worldwide.
Despite their differences, both movies achieved immense global success, with Barbie continuing to dominate theaters and Oppenheimer breaking box office records. Their simultaneous release—and the playful mashups and memes that arose—became a cultural event that drew huge audiences, eye-catching headlines, and spirited online discussions.