AMC Staff

Some of the GHfalcon staff from last year enjoyed a showing of “Barbie” over summer break!

First introduced in 1959 by the toy company of Mattel, Barbie was meant to spark the imagination of kids all over the world, and instantly became a recognizable part of pop culture for over 50 years. So, when it was announced that Academy Award nominated director Greta Gerwig would be helming the project, with Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken, the film instantly became one of 2023’s most anticipated of the year. This would also be the first Mattel product made into a feature length, theatrically released film.

Not only was “Barbie” being released on July 21, but it was also announced that Christopher Nolan’s latest film “Oppenheimer” would also be coming out on the same day. This instantly kickstarted the “Barbenheimer” trend online, with people debating whether they would see Barbie or Oppenheimer first. Both films ended up doing great at the box office, with Barbie even managing to not only make over a Bar-billion dollars worldwide, but also become the second Warner Bros. highest grossing movie of all time! The film also made director Greta Gerwig the first female director to have a movie to make over $1 Billion.

Moviegoers were really feeling the Kenergy in the theater, but the question is, how exactly did “Barbie” end up doing this well?

Before the film was released in theaters, the marketing campaign for the film was tremendous. The massive amounts of pink merch used during press tours and the numerous collaborations with various companies, brands and celebrities. 

For instance, Airbnb partnered with the marketing crew for the film to create a real life sized Barbie dream house in Malibu for people to stay in, Cold Stone even partnered with them to create an exclusive Barbie ice cream and even XBox partnered up with them to raffle off a Barbie Dreamhouse Console for charity. Various artists were also involved in the film’s soundtrack to promote it, some of them including Dua Lipa, Billie Eilish, CharliXCX, Ava Max and even Ryan Gosling himself with the single “I’m Just Ken,” which became a Billboard Hot 100 hit. 

Including Barbie in consumer goods that were popular among their target audience of younger generations is what landed Barbie a spot in the market’s mind– a key part to a successful film. While implanting Barbie on commonly used goods got the film attention, it was the interactive side to their marketing that truly cemented Barbie as the movie to anticipate. 

The official social media accounts for the movie advertised a selfie generator for people to use to turn their pictures into a Barbie or a Ken. This allowed people to put their own selfies or any image into the form of the official Barbie character posters, with text options that allowed them to say “This Barbie/Ken is..” with their personality traits after it. This was a way to get people involved in the marketing campaign, while also creating a way for people to develop a  connection to the movie before it even came out.

This wasn’t the only photo opportunity available. Some movie theaters even put up life size Barbie toy boxes to act as a photo booth for moviegoers to use before seeing the movie. This caused a lot of people to post pictures online inside the giant box, as a creative way of saying that they saw the movie.

Going along with the internet trend of “Barbenheimer,” countless people on TikTok were posting videos and memes of the Barbie and Oppenheimer double feature, seeing people changing from dark colored clothes for Oppenheimer into flashy colored pink outfits for Barbie and vice versa.