The mix of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” should shine above all with dark humor.
“Barbenheimer” developed into a pop culture phenomenon in the summer of 2023. What began with the same theatrical release of two contrasting films – Greta Gerwig’s brightly colored social satire “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s dark “Oppenheimer” about the developer of the atomic bomb – escalated into fanatical observation and comparison of sales figures. In order to lighten this seriousness compared to the success at the box office, Charles Band has now announced a film called “Barbenheimer” and wants to bring the crossover to life.
The film will tell the story of Dr. Bambi J. Barbenheimer – a scientific doll who lives in Dolltopia with her friend Twink Dollman. When she realizes how unfairly humanity treats dolls, she builds a gigantic atomic bomb to destroy the real world. “You look great and have a great attitude! Oh, and now they have the bomb,” the official synopsis reads.
It’s not just the description that makes it clear that the low-budget director, who is known, among other things, for his horror film series “Puppet Master,” doesn’t want to take his new project too seriously. Band tells The Hollywood Reporter that the script is “so silly,” “but it seems like every other movie is dark and depressing, and I’m like, God, we need a little humor in 2024.”
He wants to play with the fascination surrounding “Barbenheimer” that arose this year. “It’s also an opportunity to have fun with the bizarre marriage of these two films and the combination of Barbie’s mood and the darkness of Oppenheimer. When you put those together, you have the opportunity for dark humor,” said Band about his new production. “Everyone in the world has fun [der Idee von ‚Barbenheimer‘]so we should actually do it.”
However, it is not yet clear when filming will begin and who will play Oppenheimer’s Barbie. But like “Barbie,” the crossover film will also feature some musical tie-ins, which will be written by Brian Wecht. The production budget is set at around one million US dollars (around 930,000 euros).