Warner Bros has apologized after its Japanese arm released a sombre public statement criticizing an official social media account of the Barbie movie that responded positively to “Barbenheimer” memes about the nuclear bomb explosion.
Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ and Christopher Nolan’s ‘Oppenheimer’ were both released on July 21 and together grossed more than $1 billion worldwide, making it the fourth-highest-grossing box office weekend in history.
Their release was so eagerly awaited that legions of avid moviegoers shared a variety of dystopian and surreal crossover fan art and memes on social media.
One work depicted Margot Robbie, in character as Barbie, with an atomic mushroom cloud for her. The Barbie movie’s official Twitter account responded, “This Ken is a stylist!”
In another, Oppenheimer actor Cillian Murphy is seen carrying Barbie on his shoulders away from a nuclear explosion, to which the account replied, “It’s going to be a summer to remember.”
Warner Bros. Japan lashed out at the US account’s tweets, arguing that they were inconsiderate in their glorification of a film depicting one of the worst tragedies in Japan’s history.
In one work, Margot Robbie was depicted with an atomic mushroom cloud as her hair. The official Barbie movie’s Twitter account replied, “This Ken is a stylist!”
In another, Oppenheimer actor Cillian Murphy is seen carrying Barbie on his shoulders away from a nuclear explosion
Warner Bros. Japan lashed out at the US account’s tweets, arguing they were insensitive in its glorification of a film about one of the worst tragedies in Japan’s history
The film – which follows J. Robert Oppenheimer’s development of the first nuclear weapons – is a notable absence from cinemas in Japan
“We are extremely sorry that the official US headquarters account for the movie ‘Barbie’ responded to the social media posts of ‘Barbenheimer’ fans,” the statement from Warner Bros. Japan.
“We take this situation very seriously. We are asking US headquarters to take appropriate action. We apologize to those who were offended by this series of inconsiderate comments. Warner Bros Japan.’
Warner’s USA today apologized in comments from Deadline and the BBC saying: ‘Warner Bros regrets its recent insensitive engagement with social media. The studio offers a sincere apology.”
Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ movie has grossed more than $351 million in the US and Canada since opening on July 21, and nearly $775 million worldwide.
Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” – a historical story about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the making of the atomic bomb – has so far grossed $174 million in the US and Canada and $400 million worldwide.
Barbie will be released in Japan on August 11 – less than a week after the 78th anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
But Oppenheimer’s distributor has not yet given a release date for the film in Japanese cinema, amid a flurry of criticism from Japanese fans, whose backlash against the film saw the hashtag ‘#NoOppenheimer’ trend on social media.
The film depicts the fiery work of Oppenheimer, his team of scientists and the US military to conceive, build, test and deploy the nuclear weapons that killed more than 200,000 Japanese civilians, and the title character’s euphoria when the Trinity test – the first-ever explosion of an atomic device – was successful.
But it equally shows Oppenheimer’s moral dilemma and regret in the weeks, months and years after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and how he worked diligently to encourage the US to limit its production of atomic and thermonuclear weapons, to no avail. .
The film has also been censored in many countries in the Middle East and Asia due to a few nude scenes featuring British actress Florence Pugh.
At a pivotal moment, Oppenheimer, played by Cillian Murphy, has an intimate encounter with communist party member Jean Tatlock, played by Pugh.
While the uncensored version has Pugh lounging topless in a hotel room chair, audiences in the Middle East and India were presented with a discreetly fitted, computer-generated black dress that covered her body to the thigh.
Other moviegoers in Bangladesh and Indonesia also reported that the scene had changed, according to News Week.
The film features several sex scenes involving Pugh and Murphy, and viewers in several countries took to social media to confirm that they were heavily edited.
The uncensored version shows Pugh lounging topless in a hotel room chair, but audiences in the Middle East and India were shown a discreetly placed computer-generated black dress
This image released by Universal Pictures shows Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock, left, and Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in a scene from Oppenheimer
Florence Pugh attends the UK premiere of Oppenheimer at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on July 13, 2023 in London, England
Scenes with explicit content are regularly edited to ensure smooth release in countries with strict censorship rules on nudity and adult themes.
For example, films pursuing “U/A certification” in India must meet certain standards, allowing moderate adult themes with parental guidance for children under 12, according to India’s Central Board of Film Certification.
But Pugh’s nudity wasn’t the only aspect of the film that raised eyebrows in India.
Oppenheimer also faced controversy for quoting lines from the Hindu scriptures ‘Bhagavad Gita’ in one of the aforementioned sex scenes between Murphy and Pugh.
Over the course of his life, Oppenheimer took a keen interest in the teachings of Hinduism and learned Sanskrit so that he could read original Hindu texts.
He recalled in an interview after the blast that at the time of the explosion he remembered a line from the Bhagavad Gita, “Now I have become death, the destroyer of worlds.”
But in Nolan’s film, Murphy quotes the Bhagavad Gita while in the throes of passion with Pugh.
India’s Information Commissioner, Uday Mahurkar, said in a cautionary statement released over the weekend that the scene was “a direct attack on the religious beliefs of a billion tolerant Hindus.”
The film received a perfect five stars from Daily Mail’s Brian Viner, who wrote that Nolan balances thriller elements “magnificently” with “profound questions about the morality of laying Hiroshima and Nagasaki to nuclear waste.”
Viner wrote, ‘Oppenheimer is a stunningly well-made film … Much of Oppenheimer unfolds like a thriller, without straying from profound questions about the morality of laying Hiroshima and Nagasaki to nuclear waste.
“I despair at the excessive length of many movies these days, but even at three hours, this one never seems unreasonably long. There’s an awful lot to tell, and Nolan tells it brilliantly.’