Although his movie, Oppenheimer, is all set to clash at the box office with the highest-promoted movies this year – Greta Gerwig’s Barbie – Christopher Nolan is more than happy with how the scenario is shaping up.

Nolan recently told IGN that he thinks “it’s terrific” to have double blockbuster flicks open on the same day this summer. “Summer, in a healthy marketplace, is always crowded, and we’ve been doing this a long time,” Nolan said. “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.”

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His sentiments were echoed by Cillian Murphy, who stars in the title role of ‘Oppenheimer’ in Nolan’s movie. Murphy said: “I think it’s great. I mean, I’ll be going to see ‘Barbie.’ I can’t wait to see it. I think it’s just great for the industry and for audiences that we have two amazing films by amazing filmmakers coming out on the same day. Could spend a whole day in the cinema, what’s better than that?”

What is Barbenheimer?

Barbenheimer is a term coined by fans who initially pitted Barbie against Oppenheimer as potentially rivaling flicks, most probably because Nolan left Warner Bros. — the studio behind Barbie — after over a decade to make Oppenheimer at Universal. So Barbenheimer also reflects a clash of the studio giants. 

Both movies are set to release on July 21. 

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In recent weeks, both Barbie and Oppenheimer have started to uplift one another. On July 10 AMC Theatres reported that 20,000 members of its AMC Stubs program had bought tickets to see both Barbie and Oppenheimer on the same day.

“That more than 20,000 moviegoers have already made plans and purchased tickets to see ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ on the same day is a great sign that the growing online conversation around seeing both of these incredible films is turning into ticket sales,” said Elizabeth Frank, executive VP of worldwide programming and chief content officer at AMC Theatres.

Meanwhile, Barbenheimer is catching on fast on social media as the hashtag is being used to hype both movies by fans. an increasing number of fans have come up with innovative fan art to mark the occasion. Here are some of them: