Box office battle: Barbie vs. Oppenheimer (US)

Even before their simultaneous release on July 21, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer are jointly being hailed as the cinematic event of the summer. The blockbuster are generating plenty of buzz and the internet even has its own affectionate term for the double-feature — “Barbenheimer”.

So just how many people will watch the films?

A new YouGov survey reveals that one in 10 US adults (10%) say they plan to only watch Barbie and a similar share say they will only watch Oppenheimer (11%).

A fair share of US adults intends to fully live up to the “Barbenheimer” zeitgeist, with 14% planning to watch both features.

View infographic

A peek into Barbie and Oppenheimer movie-goers in the US

The two movies couldn’t be any different: Oppenheimer is a 3-hour biopic about the ‘father of the atomic bomb’ while Barbie brings the beloved toy to life in a live-action film about self-discovery.

Using connected data from YouGov Profiles, an advanced audience intelligence tool, we delved into demographics, lifestyle/movie interests, and media consumption habits to uncover more about viewers of each movie.

The differences between these two audiences appear to be as drastic as the tone and plot of the movies themselves.

Below is a quick lowdown on what makes Barbie fans stand out from Oppenheimer fans and vice versa. In the analysis, we define Barbie fans as those who plan to watch just Barbie or plan to watch both Barbie and Oppenheimer. Similarly, Oppenheimer fans are those who plan to watch just Oppenheimer or those who plan to watch both Barbie and Oppenheimer.

Demographics

• Barbie fans are significantly more likely to be young adults aged 18-29 compared to Oppenheimer fans (36% vs. 27%).
• Oppenheimer fans are more likely to be older, with a quarter of the audience aged 45 and older (39% vs. 25% of Barbie fans).
• While Barbie fans are significantly more likely to be women and Oppenheimer fans are more likely to be men, Barbie draws more fans of the opposite gender (54% women and 46% men) than can be said of its counterpart (39% women and 61% men).

Lifestyle interests

• Barbie fans over-Index in their interest in beauty, fashion/design, horoscopes/astrology, people/celebrities and interior design when compared to Oppenheimer fans.
• Conversely, Oppenheimer fans are more likely to be drawn to topics such as science, national news, and political/social issues compared to Barbie fans.

Media engagement

• Barbie fans are more engaged with social media when compared to Oppenheimer fans. They over-index in their usage of Instagram (46% vs. 37%), TikTok (24% vs. 15%) and Snapchat (23% vs. 13%).
• Both groups are similar in their engagement with Facebook (60% vs. 57%) and Twitter (27% vs. 26%).

Download the full profile peek into Barbie and Oppenheimer audiences to discover more.

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