Whether it’s legacy sequels to classic horrors that ignore the rest of canon, reinventing beloved children’s stories as blood-soaked slashers, or having animals go on drug-induced rampages, there’s always a slew of shameless rip-offs waiting in the wings, so the only real surprise about Charles Band’s Barbenheimer is that it hasn’t released yet.
The cinematic phenomenon of the year that saw Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan’s respective cultural juggernauts combine to earn almost $2.4 billion at the box office has spawned plenty of memes and moments as it is, and the craze isn’t over by a long shot. When asked by The Hollywood Reporter is he was cashing in for the sake of trying to piggyback the Barbenheimer mania, Band was as honest as you’d hope.
“It’s 100 percent true. 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 humor. 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.”
As you might have guessed, the story focuses on Dr. Bambi J. Barbenheimer, a “brilliant scientist doll living in Dolltopia, a world of endless summers and beach parties,” alongside her subtly-named boyfriend Twink Dollman. Furious at the way dolls are being abused by human children, the title hero heads into the real world and decides humanity is so far beyond saving that building a nuclear device to kill them all is the only solution.
It’s undoubtedly going to suck, but the tagline of “D-Cup, A-Bomb” at least deserves a small round of applause for being so ridiculous.