Riding the ‘Barbie wave’: Chicago moviegoers and businesses alike celebrate the movie

Tyler Barnes knew Barbie as a toy growing up. When he heard there was a new movie coming out, he wanted to see Barbie’s story come to life. And he was looking for an excuse to wear pink.

Barnes, clad in pink pants and a pink cowboy hat, ventured to ShowPlace ICON in the South Loop Wednesday evening to watch the movie with two of his co-workers from Honey Berry Cafe. His review: it’s “rewatchable” and his new favorite tune is “I’m Just Ken.”

“I really liked it,” Barnes, 22, said. “They touch heavily on Black women empowerment, and in a very good way that made a lot of sense. It was really cool.”

Other excited fans have been leaving their Mojo Dojo Casa Houses (the character Ken’s renaming of Barbie’s Dreamhouse) and flocking to Chicago’s theaters to see what has become a summer blockbuster. In its first weekend on July 21-24, Barbie made $162 million in the U.S. and broke Warner Bros.’ opening week-Monday box office record. Businesses in Chicago have also capitalized on to the movie, giving fans a taste — literally — of the Barbie dream.

The film follows stereotypical Barbie’s (Margot Robbie) idyllic life in Barbieland, where she strolls on pink beaches, choreographs expansive dance numbers and hosts girls’ night every night. But when things start going awry — in the form of thoughts of death and the appearance of cellulite — Barbie must travel to the real world to find her human owner to fix the rift between the worlds. Ken (Ryan Gosling) joins Barbie in her adventures, discovering the benefits of horses and the patriarchy.

“I think what we saw this weekend was some of the biggest crowds we’ve seen in the last several years,” said Jim Nowicki, the marketing director of ShowPlace ICON Theatre & Kitchen.

Nowicki said the theater had “Barbie” playing on five screens over the weekend, many of which filled up. The theater spruced up its appearance accordingly. Staff decorated the lobby with a Barbie box, a pink carpet leading to the concession stand and a pink balloon arch. For snacks they served a pink popcorn mix, a Pink Sunset cocktail and a berry cream soda named Pink Dream.

“We’re in the entertainment business,” Nowicki said. “Our goal is to do something that’s better than staying in your living room. Our goal is to get people to come out of their homes and celebrate moviegoing, which is supposed to be big.”

Nowicki said the “Barbie wave” has continued throughout the weekdays, with big crowds showing up for evening shows. He expects the sales to continue this weekend. One of the people who decided to come out on a weekday is Shauwonta Fleming, who brought her daughter and two nieces to see the movie. They were decked out in pink skirts, purses, shoes and more.

“I grew up watching Barbie and they grew up having Barbies so I’m like OK, let’s just get out and see this film,” Fleming said.

“We didn’t get these kind of movies growing up, so it’s like, why do you wait until I turned 30 to give us a good movie?” Fleming joked.

‘Barbenheimer’ craze

Part of what’s driving people to the theaters is the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, a combination of the “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” movies. These movies are quite different in tone and aesthetic, inspiring lots of laughs on social media. “Oppenheimer,” which is about the creator of the atomic bomb, made an impressive $82 million in its first four days.

Elizabeth Coffman, a professor of film studies and the interim dean of Loyola Chicago’s School of Communication, said the success of both movies demonstrates that audiences enjoy complicated storylines and great production values.

“I don’t think this is said enough — American audiences enjoy history. ‘Barbie’ is a mother-daughter kind of historical film,” Coffman said. “Barbie is a historical doll who is politically outdated and has been for a long time, but (director and co-writer Greta Gerwig) with Mattel’s blessing, retells the Barbie story in a way that is inclusive.”

In terms of juggling humor and politics, Coffman thinks Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach did an excellent job. Coffman saw the movie Tuesday night with her nieces and nephews — two days before her wedding. As a film studies scholar, she said it seemed like the right thing to do.

“The references to the Supreme Court, and Barbie is single, she rejects Ken. She doesn’t have children, and she is proud of her diverse Barbie friends who are presidents and mechanics,” Coffman said. “We can all laugh with her about the reality of the political situation both in terms of race and gender.”

“Feminine audiences are not to be underestimated,” Coffman added.

Effect on Hollywood strikes

Actors and writers are on strike, demanding fair pay from streaming and an agreement that studios won’t use artificial intelligence. Coffman said the success of “Barbie” “reinforces how important great writing and performance are for great storytelling.”

Because many movies and television shows are delayed due to the strike, local theaters say “Barbie” will help them weather the storm.

“I don’t think I’ve seen numbers like this since ‘Avengers: Endgame.’ After we shut down for a few months during COVID, and then we reopened there was a backlog of movies not being made. So this is huge, it’s really big,” said Ariana Montanez, the general manager of Logan Theatre.

Montanez said the theater, located in Logan Square, sold out over the weekend, and evening shows during the week are selling out as well. A theater seats 145 people, she added. She said one of the managers even dressed up as Ken and dyed his hair blond.

At Davis Theater in Lincoln Square, the “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” double feature was popular, according to Jack Richardson, operations manager. He said on a typical Friday, about 300 people show up, but last Friday there were 1,300 people. He called the atmosphere “bonkers.”

“It was like a wave of pink all through our lobby. There’s a kind of energy you feel in the lobby of that much excitement people are having,” Richardson said. “I even had some folks come in with the full suit and the fedora. People really embraced just how fun and the cultural phenomenon it was.”

Barbie business

From the Burger King pink burger to Barbie crocs, businesses big and small have jumped on the “Barbie” bandwagon — or pink Corvette convertible. In Chicago, there’s the Malibu Barbie Cafe pop-up in the West Loop, and a handful of Barbie-inspired cocktails at Crio, a Latin restaurant in Lincoln Park.

Stephanie Guzman, a manager at Crio, said her mom saw how popular the Barbie boxes were becoming in Mexico, especially the Barbie collection at Zara, so she convinced Guzman’s dad and brothers to build a box for the restaurant last Thursday. After posting a video of her dad in the pink box on Instagram, Guzman said it got crazy.

“We had an hour and a half wait for people just coming in to eat,” she said.

They served La Barbie, a dragon fruit margarita, and El Ken, a blue margarita. They also had Bougie Barbie, raspberry lemonade with prosecco, and Malibu Beach House, frozen vodka lemonade. Guzman estimates she made more than 100 Barbie drinks just on Saturday. Besides the pink jello shots, El Ken sold the best.

“One of the guys told us ‘thank you for not being sexist and leaving Ken out,’” she said, adding that even though they ended the promotion on Tuesday, they hope to bring back something similar in the future, potentially for “Mean Girls.”

The hype has seemed to work for some people. Sarah Smith, 28, said she went to see the movie on Wednesday with her boyfriend since everybody’s talking about it and she likes Gerwig’s other movies, especially “Lady Bird.” She said her boyfriend is just as pumped as her to see the movie.

“It’s exciting. It’s fun. Seeing something from childhood all the way through adulthood, basically,” Smith said. “And especially seeing little girls now getting excited about it too, and different generations seeing the movie with their family. I think it’s nice seeing this hit so many demographics.”