When the internet took Barbie and Oppenheimer‘s shared release date and turned it into a kind of ironic holiday, exhibitors reaped the benefits at the box office, with Barbie on track to become Warner Bros.’ highest-grossing film of all time, and Oppenheimer earning the distinction of being the highest-grossing movie never to hit the #1 spot at the box office. Yes, both of these movies were basically guaranteed successes given the enthusiasm around their release, but pairing the two gave it a kind of chaotic, celebratory energy that audiences really embraced, and likely led to far more “double features” than otherwise might have happened.
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With that much money at play, it’s basically guaranteed studios and exhibitors will try to recreate the idea. Whether it’s by taking movies that are already set to release together, or by strategically shifting some dates around, it would be shocking if we didn’t see exhibitors trying to do it as quick as possible.
Now, we’re going to go through some upcoming releases, see what’s hitting on what dates, and try to see which other movies might get slapped together by the internet, or at least by ambitious interns on studio social media accounts. There’s a big ol’ asterisk here in that with the strikes going on, it’s hard to know which movies will still hit their release dates, but for the sake of this fun little exercise, we’re going to assume the current calendar is right.
Below, you can see a rundown of some of the ones we can see coming in the next year or two…!
My Big Fat Greek Nun
On September 8th, both The Nun II and My Big Fat Greek Wedding III are hitting theaters.
They’re both sequels to movies that have made a bunch of money, so while it’s unlikely this will be anything on the scale of the Barbenheimer week, it’s likely these two movies will come in at #1 and #2 at the box office, drawing in a healthy number…and maybe if some folks can agree to a romcom/horror double feature, all the better!
Saw Patrol
At least a sizable chunk of the intended audience for PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie isn’t going to be able to make their way into Saw X, but that’s not to say some parents who are taking their kids to the cinema on September 29th might not make their way back a little later to catch the return of Tobin Bell and Shawnee Smith in their iconic horror roles.
And, hey! Since we figured out that the PAW Patrol movies take place in a different universe than the TV show, and that Mayor Humdinger has been in jail since the last movie, both movies are technically about the long-awaited return of the franchises’ main villains.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Trolls
Trolls Band Together bring Anna Kendrick and Justin Timberlake back together, to let the Trolls rock out one more time…on the same day a different kind of music is being evoked at theaters down the hall. November 17th (the 6th anniversary of the Justice League release) will see the release of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, right alongside Trolls Band Together. Not quite as harsh as Saw, this one might be able to attract at least a few of the Trolls viewers to it…!
A Quiet Panda
Kung-Fu Panda might be a kids franchise, but it’s also a movie series that has been going on so long that its original fans are definitely old enough to be checking out its opening day twin, A Quiet Place: Day One. The prequel stars Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn, and opens on March 8, 2024, where it will compete for box office dominance with Jack Black’s animated alter ego.
Bad Boys: Inside Out
This one’s a bit more of a stretch, because it’s far enough out that it feels like delays are definitely going to be a factor, but for now…we’re goin gto say Bad Boys 4 and Inside Out 2 might actually be the best chance for a dynamic similar to Barbenheimer if the two movies perform anything like the previous installments in their franchises. Both series are reasonably family-friendly, both did well last time, and both are pretty highly anticipated. Could this be the next major “double feature” weekend? It would be interesting to see it happen almost exactly a hear later. Bad Boys 4 and Inside Out 2 are set to hit theaters on June 14, 2024.
Barbie Synopsis
In Barbie, to live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken. From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig comes Barbie, which hit theaters on July 21st.
Barbie stars Oscar-nominees Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, alongside America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell. The film also stars Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Dua Lipa and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren. Gerwig directed Barbie from a screenplay by Gerwig & Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach, based on Barbie by Mattel.
Oppenheimer Synopsis
Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer is an IMAX-shot epic thriller that thrusts audiences into the pulse-pounding paradox of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it.
The film stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Emily Blunt as his wife, biologist and botanist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer. Oscar® winner Matt Damon portrays General Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project, and Robert Downey, Jr. plays Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.
The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin. The film is produced by Emma Thomas, Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan.
Oppenheimer is filmed in a combination of IMAX® 65mm and 65mm large-format film photography including, for the first time ever, sections in IMAX® black and white analogue photography.
