Hollywood blockbuster Barbie opens in Japan after atomic bomb controversy
- The ‘Barbenheimer’ tag, linking the film with Oppenheimer, sparked a backlash as Japan marked the memorials of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
- Despite the upset, tickets for the film sold fast as fans flocked to the theatrical release, timed to coincide with the first day of Japan’s summer holiday week
Hollywood blockbuster Barbie hit cinemas in Japan on Friday, where “Barbenheimer” memes linking the doll-themed film with the atomic bomb caused a stir and resulted in distributor Warner Bros apologising ahead of the release.
Tickets for Barbie, starring Margot Robbie in the title role, nevertheless sold fast in Japan as fans flocked to the theatrical release, timed to coincide with a national holiday marking the first day of Japan’s extended summer holiday week.
“The pink world of Barbie was absolutely beautiful”, said Misaki Suzuki, 29-year-old nail salon worker, after watching the film at a Tokyo cinema.
Barbie has topped US$1 billion in global box office since its July 21 debut, making writer and director Greta Gerwig the first female filmmaker to surpass that benchmark as a solo director. The success of the fantasy-comedy was further boosted by the coupling with Oppenheimer, the biopic chronicling the creation of the atomic bomb during World War Two that opened on the same weekend.
But the “Barbenheimer” combo sparked a backlash in Japan, as the nation earlier this month marked the memorials of the US atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 78 years ago.
In now-deleted posts on platform X, formerly known as Twitter, Warner Bros’ Barbie marketing account had latched on to fan-produced memes that depicted Robbie with Oppenheimer actor Cillian Murphy alongside images of nuclear blasts.
