stonehenge

Oppenheimer 62,248,877 Barbie 145,221,892 Combined 207,470,769

That would make a lot of sense, especially because Nolan bringing up the production budget in the context of the script just seems...weird? He's done a number of interviews where he paralleled the 180 page script with a 180 minute runtime, seems much more likely than bringing up the budget out of nowhere.

Can we pause for a moment and appreciate that it increasingly looks like we're getting two incredible movies after all the hype leading up to Barbenheimer? If they are both as good as early reactions suggest then Barbenheimer will live on forever in pop culture history. What a time to be alive!

Thanks for sharing! I will admit, I'm a huge Nolan fan but I almost never immediately "love" his movies right after finishing the first viewing. They are always so much to take in and process, and I often find that I fall in love with them only after seeing them a few times. Do you think that's kinda what's going on with this one as well? Also, any thoughts on the reviewers who said the last hour was boring? Not asking for specifics (I wanna know as little as possible before watching this).

Alexis Roux: "2 grandiose hours, where the epic and the intimate blend brilliantly, with Nolan's direction for once focusing above all on emotion. 1 final hour that goes brutally off the rails: muddled, deceptively surprising and weighed down by clumsy dialogue." Eric Vernay "a host of stars play the turbo-HPI in a western setting: #Oppenheimer is a bit like Asteroid City with a bomb instead of an alien. For 2 hours it works, we have a film-brain with an atomic crescendo punctuated by beautiful sapio-sexual scenes, and then the film implodes." Cyprien Caddeo "#Oppenheimer is Christopher Nolan's new cerebral kugel, in an unstable state between the tedious and the sublime. It's a sensory rollercoaster, literally driven to the beat of an opera (yet without Zimmer). 3 hours is still a long time. Nolan's Babylon?"

Well since TM only tracks positive/negative and not a scale of review, that's a very common scenario. Joy Ride (2023) TM:92%, Average Rating: 7.5. La La Land (2016) TM: 91%, Average Rating: 8.7. A Simple Favor (2018) TM: 84%, Average Rating: 6.9 The Wolf of Wallstreet (2013) TM: 80%, Average Rating: 7.8. Sausage Party (2016) TM: 82%, Average Rating: 6.8. Jojo Rabbit (2019) TM: 80%, Average Rating: 7.6. There are better examples, I'm sure, but I think it still shows my point which is that plenty of movies have a high RT score but a significantly lower average rating than movies with a comparable RT score. Of course, I have no idea what will end up happening with Barbie and Oppenheimer (and I didn't mean to pretend like I did), but Barbie *seems* like the kind of movie that critics would give a positive rating even if they don't think it's worthy of best picture. Oppenheimer, by contrast, has already stirred up plenty of Oscar buzz but has also had a few negative reviews, particularly surrounding the final act, so I think it's very possible that while it may end up with a higher average rating than Barbie, the RT score could be lower. But again, just a guess!

Looks like Haunted Mansion will take over Dolby Cinema locations only a week after, which is perhaps not very surprising but still jarring contrasted with Oppenheimer's three-week hold on IMAX theaters. Does make me question Barbie's staying power especially if reviews aren't phenomenally good. Fingers crossed Barbenheimer will continue, I would hate for it to fizzle out after opening weekend--it's been so much fun!

I think that's right. People will point to whichever movie opens to a higher score and say that one "won"--at least the critic battle. That will generate some publicity, especially for Oppenheimer if it has a better score. However, given the nature of RT, it's very possible (perhaps even likely) that Barbie will have a higher score on the Tomatometer but Oppenheimer a higher average score. Personally, I hope both open with very high scores and everyone just celebrates Barbenheimer! There doesn't always need to be a loser.

British press saw it this morning so expect more reactions today.

For what it's worth, one of the French critics who originally gave the film a 3.5/5 updated their score to 4/5. https://letterboxd.com/emmanuel/films/ The only mixed reviews so far are from a few French critics, or am I mistaken? English-speaking critics have expressed universal praise for the film. Also, those mixed reviews take issue with parts of the movie that most reviews rave about, such as the length, pacing, third act, and even the film's emotion. In other words, the positive reviews don't like it despite the aspects pointed out by the more mixed takes, they fundamentally disagree with them. To me, that's a good thing because it suggests that some people just didn't "get" the movie, and that kind of stuff always happens. The Godfather has *four* rotten reviews on RT, for crying out loud. I'd rather have a movie that polarizes a little but is still overwhelmingly well-received than a movie that plays it safe.

Thought this was rather interesting: Romain Cheyron posted his review on Twitter calling the film packed with emotion. Someone responded saying they had heard the film "quite emotionally cold." Cheyron answered: "On the contrary, I found it to be overloaded with emotions."

https://www.threads.net/t/CuZ9o8aNijf/?igshid=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ== “Just interviewed the cast of #Oppenheimer in NYC. Oscar buzz is real. #WHYY #PBS #HCA #CCA #PhilaFCC @patrickstoner”