The backstory on the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon is that Christopher Nolan had long found a home at Warner Bros, from 2002 up until the pandemic. During the pandemic, Warner Bros dumped many of their new releases on their streaming platform, HBO Max. Nolan and many other directors and actors slammed Warner Bros’ decision, and Nolan got especially spicy about it, saying this on the record: “Some of our industry’s biggest filmmakers and most important movie stars went to bed the night before thinking they were working for the greatest movie studio and woke up to find out they were working for the worst streaming service.” After that, Nolan left Warner Bros and Oppenheimer was made at Universal. As a screw-you to Nolan, Warner Bros waited until they saw what release date Universal claimed for Oppenheimer, then Warner Bros scheduled Barbie’s release for the same day. So, Barbenheimer came out of significant drama, even though the casts of both films took pains to celebrate each other’s work. Well, reportedly, Nolan’s ass still hurts about it.

Christopher Nolan was reportedly ‘upset’ that Warner Bros chose to release Barbie at the same time as his thriller Oppenheimer. Despite the Barbenheimer (a playful hybrid of Barbie and Oppenheimer) phenomenon continuing to grow – the 52-year-old director was reportedly less than impressed.

‘Summer, in a healthy marketplace, is always crowded, and we’ve been doing this a long time,’ he recently told IGN. ‘I think for those of us who care about movies, we’ve been really waiting to have a crowded marketplace again, and now it’s here and that’s terrific.’

But sources close to the director said ‘Nolan wasn’t nearly as diplomatic in his stance behind the scenes,’ according to Insider. The publication claimed ‘Nolan was upset that Warner Bros scheduled Barbie for release on the same weekend as Oppenheimer, especially since mid-July has been known in the movie business as “Nolan’s weekend” for years.’

There was reportedly an attempt by the movie-theater community to get the Warner Bros studio to move the Barbie release date – but it ultimately would not budge.

Despite the ongoing rumblings, earlier this year Variety said the new heads of Warner Bros, Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, wanted Nolan to return. It claimed that the executives had sent Nolan a seven-figure royalty in relation to Tenet in an attempt to re-build a bridge and lure him back.

[From The Daily Mail]

Last week, Nolan was asked if he planned to see Barbie and he said a “curt ‘no’.” So, yeah, I believe this. I believe he’s still mad and that this is all some big studio beef. It’s hilarious though, and I have to admit… it’s well-played by Warner Bros. While they might want Nolan back, they’re not acting like it. They’re acting like they’re fine with gleefully burning that bridge. It must kill Nolan to see his cast and Barbie’s cast be so gracious towards each other too. Before the strike, Cillian Murphy, Matt Damon, RDJ, Margot Robbie and everyone else leaned into the Barbenheimer thing. Not Nolan. LMAO.

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images, Backgrid.