As it just crossed the $500 million mark, domestically, here are more amusing takes, from unlikely sources, about the “Barbie” movie.
Joe Rogan, of all people, is defending “Barbie.” He told his 40+ million listeners that he is not sure why the film has been getting hated on as “anti-man.” It turned into a total rant with guest Post Malone.
A lot of people are upset about the Barbie movie. I left perplexed. It’s a fun, silly movie about dolls who come to life. A lot of it is about the patriarchy. It’s a comedy about dolls. People are upset that it’s this progressive metaphor for life and that they’re pushing progressive politics … it’s a f*cking doll movie. It’s an original movie, no one ever done a movie like this before. It was a bizarre movie. At the end of it I was like “how did people get outraged by that?” I know some people, personally, who say it’s anti-man .. no, it’s making fun of dorks. I just don’t understand why people were so up set, is that you? I don’t understand how people think they represents all men. It’s the dumbest thing.
Rogan joins fellow podcast comedians Marc Maron and Bill Maher, among others, in giving his two cents about Greta Gerwig’s doll movie. Did anybody expect this to happen?
His comments, although far less eloquent, are fairly similar to Film Comment’s Amy Taubin. Here she is, in late July, appearing on Nicolas Rapold’s excellent “The Last Thing I Saw” podcast:
It’s a movie about a fucking doll. Can a movie about Barbie that’s financed by Mattel be anything but a very long product placement that has ticky contemporary aspects to it? “Oh look, Barbie, she can be cool too!” I think it’s awful, the more I think about it the worse it gets.
“Barbie” has become such a massive, culture-changing hit that even now the most unlikely of people are chiming in with their thoughts on the film. That’s when you know a film has hit it big and hit the core of the zeitgeist.
This past Spring, the film had these super early projections that said it was going to earn an opening of $30 million. “Barbie” tripled those numbers in its first weekend.
What happened was that Warner Bros marketing went into overdrive and the entire thing went viral in ways not many films can claim they have. You now have people who would not normally go to the movies actually buying a ticket to “Barbie,” just to witness firsthand what all the fuss is about.
The ‘Smile’ franchise has a new director. David Bruckner, who made “The Night House” and the 2022 “Hellraiser” reboot, has been hired to direct “Smile 3” for Paramount.