It’s one of the most bizarre Hollywood coincidences in recent memory. In an event deemed Barbenheimer, the Barbie Movie and the drama Oppenheimer both came out in the same weekend.
The former is a light and satirical film based around the iconic Barbie and Ken dolls, full of celebrity cameos and light, pink scenery. The second is a dark and dramatic period piece about the creation of the atomic bomb.
It’s a strange contrast to be sure. Some filmgoers are daring each other to see the two films back to back, in order to get the full impact of their weird simultaneous release.
One local Bay Area theatre is getting in on the trend. The Orinda Theatre in Orinda, California has gone full Barbenheimer, devoting all of its screens (including its iconic main theatre) to showing the two films. (Mission Impossible is playing, too.)
Bold letters on the theatre’s historic Marquee spell out the names of the two films. You can see the marquee from Highway 24 if you’re driving past Orinda.
The Orinda Theatre is an art deco jewel that was originally built in the 1930s, and was later restored. It still shows films today, and it’s a great place to catch a movie.
Everything looks better in the opulent art deco splendor of the theatre’s main auditorium. And in keeping with recent trends, the Orinda Theatre has added some small screens to be able to show multiple films at the same time.
Multiple films…like a dark and brooding war biopic and a light, fluffy movie about a doll come to life!
No matter which film you choose to see (or, if you choose to go full Barbenheimer and see both), the Orinda Theatre is a great place to embrace this strange cinema milestone, and support a local institution in the process.
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