You knew it had to happen at some point. After a summer of costumes, crossover posters, memes and more, someone has decided to make an actual "Barbenheimer" movie. In this case, that someone is B-movie mogul Charles Band, who has figured out a mash-up film that will essentially blend the stories of Greta Gerwig's pop cultural colossus Barbie and Christopher Nolan's carefully crafted biodrama Oppenheimer for what could be a fun –and low-budget – mixture.
Boasting a tagline of "D-Cup, A-Bomb," the planned film follows Dr. Bambi J Barbenheimer, a brilliant scientist doll living in Dolltopia, a world of endless summers and beach parties, and her boyfriend Twink Dollman. Dr. Barbenheimer, incensed by the brutal treatment the dolls receive at the hands of human children, ventures into the real world where she experiences humanity at its worst and, naturally, decides to build a giant nuclear bomb to take it all out.
"It’s 100 percent true," Band tells The Hollywood Reporter of him looking to jump on the bandwagon. "But it’s also an opportunity to have fun with the bizarre coupling of these two movies and the combination of Barbie’s vibe and the darkness of Oppenheimer. You mix that together and you have such an opportunity for dark humour."
And he sees real value in having something like this headed to screens when at the present moment. "It’s so silly. But it seems like every other feature is dark and depressing, and it’s like, God, we need a little humor going into 2024."
In the works since August (though the cameras have yet to roll), the movie's rights are for sale at the American Film Market.