Hollywood Blockbuster 'Barbie' Opens in Japan After Atomic Bomb Controversy

 

Hollywood Blockbuster 'Barbie' Opens in Japan After Atomic Bomb Controversy

By Kantaro Komiya and Akiko Okamoto

TOKYO (Reuters) - Hollywood blockbuster "Barbie" hit theatres in Japan on Friday, the place "Barbenheimer" memes linking the doll-themed movie with the atomic bomb triggered a stir and made distributor Warner Bros apologize forward of the discharge.

 

Tickets for "Barbie", starring Margot Robbie within the title position, were nonetheless offered quickly in Japan as followers flocked to the theatrical launch, timed to coincide with a nationwide vacation marking the primary day of Japan's prolonged summer season vacation week.

"The pink world of Barbie was completely lovely," mentioned Misaki Suzuki, 29-year-old nail salon employee, after watching the movie at a Tokyo cinema.

"Barbie" has topped $1 billion in international field workplace since its July 21 debut, making author and director Greta Gerwig the primary feminine filmmaker to surpass that benchmark as a solo director. The success of the fantasy-comedy was additional boosted by the coupling with "Oppenheimer", the biopic chronicling the creation of the atomic bomb throughout World Battle Two that opened on the identical weekend.

However the "Barbenheimer" combo sparked a backlash in Japan, because the nation earlier this month marked the memorials of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki 78 years in the past.

In now-deleted posts on platform X, previously generally known as Twitter, Warner Bros' "Barbie" advertising and marketing account had latched on to fan-produced memes that depicted Robbie with "Oppenheimer" actor Cillian Murphy alongside photos of nuclear blasts.

A Change.org petition was launched on Aug 1, demanding that Warner Bros and Common Photos, the studio behind "Oppenheimer", name a halt to the #Barbenheimer hashtag on social media. It has collected about 22,600 signatures thus far.

A #NoBarbenheimer hashtag trended in Japan on the time, prompting Warner's Japan division to subject a uncommon public criticism of its U.S. dad or mum firm, which then adopted with an apology final week.

Mitsuki Takahata, who voiced Barbie within the dubbed Japanese model, mentioned in an Aug 2 Instagram put up that she was dismayed upon studying of the memes. "This incident is actually, actually disappointing," she posted.

Nonetheless, Japanese followers of the film, which sends Mattel Inc's iconic doll into actual life, mentioned the controversy didn't discourage them from visiting theatres.

 

"It was harsh", mentioned 24-year-old college pupil Rie Takeda, commenting on the fan-produced #Barbenheimer memes.

"However the film was radiant, past that I had enjoyable" watching it, she mentioned.

No Japan launch date has been introduced for "Oppenheimer", which has been criticised for largely ignoring the atomic bomb's destruction of two main Japanese cities in 1945, accounting for greater than 200,000 deaths.

 

(Reporting by Kantaro Komiya and Akiko Okamoto; Extra reporting by Rocky Swift, Enhancing by William Maclean)