BOCA RATON, Fla. — Not one but two major blockbusters are debuting this weekend.
"Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" are much anticipated movies that are expected to draw big crowds to theaters.
WPTV went to the Cinemark Bistro Boca Raton and XD in southern Palm Beach County on Friday night to check out what moviegoers are saying.
Palm Beach
Palm Beach chef creates full-scale Barbie buffet
Representatives with Cinemark said the blockbuster weekend is expected to bring record-breaking movie theater attendance.
"Christopher Nolan is one of my favorite directors because of his dedication to actual filming without using CGI," said Genzha Kadyrov, who was at the Boca Raton Cinemark to watch "Oppenheimer." "I heard they made a giant explosion in Texas just to film the movie and to be realistic."
The double movie debut has drawn a fandom dubbing both movies as "Barbenheimer."
"We grew up playing with Barbie. That was our main toy growing up, so it's a lot of nostalgia," Noelle Hamm, who dressed up as Barbie and Ken with her sister Olivia to watch the Barbie movie, said.
"I was always Ken when we were playing because she always wanted to be Barbie, but I love Ken, so this was great," Olivia Hamm said.
Barbie fans were dressed up like their favorite doll, and Oppenheimer fans were mostly donned in black.
"It's very fun to see all these people dressed in pink and black, kind of two-sided, never seen that before in the movie theater," Kadyrov said.
The busy weekend comes as Hollywood writers and actors are on strike, which could push back many new movies indefinitely.
"How are you guys preparing for the future, maybe a year from now on the impact that that may bring?" asked WPTV reporter Joel Lopez to Cinemark spokeswoman Julia McCartha.
"We will see what happens, but for now we will see what happens this weekend," McCartha said.
Scripps News Life
‘Barbie’ is hitting the big screen, but is the movie meant for kids?
Cinemark officials didn't want to comment on the strike but said the demand for "Barbenheimer" has caused theaters nationwide to add extra show times.
"The films could not be more different," McCartha said. "They’re such different genres but to see so many people out there wanting to see both I mean it's just something that's really cool, and it's really great for the entire industry."
She said Cinemark theaters are seeing a strong first half of the year coming off a strong 2022.
"We've had multiple films exceeding expectations going back to January with the horror film "M3GAN" that really took off to the Super Mario Brothers movie that became the second biggest animated film of all time," McCartha said. "And now with "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer," it's going to be such a fantastic weekend and consumers just continue to show us that they love that big screen experience."
Keep in mind if you want to watch both "Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" this weekend, moviegoers should budget about five hours since "Oppenheimer" is three hours and "Barbie" is one hour and 54 minutes.
