Barbie Film Stays Airing In Japan After Barbenheimer Controversy

Barbie (Warner Bros.)

JAKARTA - Barbie films continue to air in Japan despite the Barbenheimer controversy having received protests from the Warner Bros. production house. Japan. Launching Japan Today, this film officially aired in Japan on Friday, August 11, 2023 yesterday.

Despite the controversy, Barbie films are still in demand by the public considering that day was the first day of national holidays.

However, Japanese cinemas are still dominated by local films that lead box office in their country, namely Kingdom 3 and The First Slam Dunk.

Previously, the central Warner Bros production house apologized after receiving criticism from Warner Bros. Japan regarding the Barbenheimer meme or a combination of Barbie and Oppenheimer words. The Japanese production house regretted the central attitude regarding the meme in circulation.

"We deeply regret the official American headquarters account for the Barbie film reaction to social media posts about Barbenheimer fans," Warner Bros. Japan wrote on Monday, July 31.

We take this situation very seriously. We ask the head office to take action. We apologize to those who feel offended by this action," they said.

The social media post in question is edited an account showing the main Barbie actor, Margot Robbie who sat on the shoulder of the main Oppenheimer actor, Cillian Murphy. They were made as if walking out of the explosion area.

This will be the summer to remember, replied the official Barbie film account to the post. The tweet also contains information about the August 6, 1945 about the explosion in Hiroshima, Japan.

Then the Barbie film account also replied to a fan's tweet that changed Margot Robbie's hairstyle to resemble a fungal cloud that was an atomic bomb explosion. Another photo shows Barbie and Ken scenes on top of the car and the explosion happened behind them.

The Barbenheimer phenomenon occurs on several grounds, one of which is the two films released on the same date. With different genres and production houses, Barbenheimer successfully brought in spectators and made them box office films.

Barbie character voice actor Mitsuki Takahata in the Japanese version of the film also regrets the disappointing action of the production house. Apart from that, the public still seems enthusiastic about participating in the Barbie film.

"This incident is true, it is true to be revoking," wrote Mitsuki Takahata in his tweet.

On the other hand, the release of the Oppenheimer film in Japan has not been announced until now.