• As the world is heading to theatres to watch “Barbenheimer”, people looking for information about the Barbie movie on Google will get a nice surprise.
• Googling terms related to “Barbie” will transform the screen into a pink Barbie-themed Google Search, reminiscent of the film and the toys behind it.
• Together, both Barbie and Oppenheimer have broken records and scored a combined $235.3 million at the box office.

The swirl of movie-watching fervour has peaked, with the world rushing to movie houses watch the unlikely double feature of Barbie and Oppenheimer, both of which launched on 21st July 2023 in the United States.

As soon as social media users learned that both movies, so diametrically opposed, would be launching on the same day, fans created the “Barbenheimer” meme, similar to the Doom Eternal-Animal Crossing phenomenon in 2020.

It seems that the social media movement has been a boon for Warner Bros and Universal, as it has produced a rare combined box office splash, at $235.3 million in the US, $155 million from Barbie and around $80 million from Oppenheimer. This also gives Barbie the biggest opening for a film helmed by a woman in Greta Gerwig.

Barbie’s boosted sales can be due to its massive source material and appeal, but also its more intensive marketing. For example, if you Google any terms related to the Barbie film your browser transforms into Pink mode, with sparkles.

We have seen this sort of viral marketing before, with the likes of The Last of Us, the HBO series, receiving similar treatment from Google. Just after the first episode of the show aired, Googling any terms related to The Last of Us filled the screen with crawling cordyceps fungi.

Barbie’s own Google Search takeover is more innocent than that, with effervescent sparkles and a general colour scheme that is quite easy on the eyes. Which begs the question, why can’t we have a Pink mode on Google?

Oppenheimer, unfortunately, did not get a Google takeover, owing to that film’s reduced marketing budget, but also its much darker subject matter. The fact that the film made over $80 million is a testament to the symbiotic marketing it received through Barbie, being mentioned together constantly, and the draw of director Christopher Nolan.

Otherwise, biopics covering World War II-era events usually don’t make as much money. Barbie and Oppenheimer now join a rare set of films that together boost box office sales, with only three times in history where two films saw $50 million+ openings.

We gave Barbie a positive review and called it the best toy film since 2014’s LEGO Movie.