Barbenheimer—the one-two punch releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer—will go down in historical past as an astonishing success. Together, Variety reports, the movies made greater than $244 million of their opening weekend, the fourth-largest in US historical past. Barbie’s $162 million was the largest ever for a feminine director, placing Greta Gerwig ahead of Patty Jenkins’ $103 million debut for Wonder Woman. It’s been such a smashing success that pundits are declaring the hostile impacts of Covid-19 on theatergoing formally “over.”

Talking heads are additionally issuing massive “wow”s over the stunning accomplishments of Barbie specifically. How did a movie, awash in pink and feminism, climb to the highest in a season usually dominated by superhero capes and dudes in souped-up automobiles? The quick reply right here is that the film is enjoyable—its coup shouldn’t be a shock. But the extra sophisticated clarification is that Barbie managed to do that regardless of the numerous issues working towards it.

The most evident of those, I’d guess, is misogyny. Despite years of proof on the contrary, the widespread knowledge stays that motion pictures by and about ladies don’t do nicely, particularly ones with overt feminist messaging. Yet, whilst conservative commentator Ben Shapiro called it “one of the most woke movies I have ever seen” and Senator Ted Cruz from Texas referred to as it “Chinese communist propaganda” (long story), audiences embraced its messaging to the tune of thousands and thousands.

But that’s only the start. Those dustups most likely would have occurred it doesn’t matter what. Barbie’s extra stunning obstacles got here within the type of Hollywood’s twin labor union strikes, which enormously impacted promotion for the movie. After talks with the foremost studios broke down and the Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) started their work stoppage, SAG members—each star within the film, principally—may not do interviews or go on social media to advertise the movie. Barbie’s massive pink-carpet premiere occurred earlier than the strike started, however after that it was lights out.

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SAG’s strike additionally meant that influencers have been loath to advertise the film. Not all influencers are members of the union, however many aspire to be, and collaborating in promotion of the movie by going to occasions or sharing their reactions on social media may endanger that. As one TikTok influencer told The New York Times this week, having to resolve between doing their work and supporting the placing actors felt like being “in a really messy family feud,” including, “You don’t want to be one of those people that was willing to take a check instead of standing in support of people fighting for actual livable wages.”