SOUTHERN COLORADO — Barbie and Oppenheimer's shared opening weekend started Thursday after months of anticipation from fans from around the internet, and southern Colorado's theaters were no exception to the excitement.
The two movies have sparked much debate about which film will perform better both critically and financially.
Pueblo's Cinemark Tinseltown was crowded by a sea of pink when Barbie fans showed up for the film's opening night.
"I think it's fun. I think we've all grown up watching Barbie," said Trinity Townsend, a Pueblo theater guest.
Colorado Springs' Cinemark Tinseltown saw a much larger response to Oppenheimer than Pueblo's.
"I think it's amazing that America came together to do what they could to end this war," said Mark Schaefer, a Colorado Springs theater guest seeing Oppenheimer.
No matter which film audiences were seeing, everyone had their justifications for being in one camp or the other. Many Barbie fans said they were excited to see the live-action adaptation because of the messaging behind the doll.
"Barbie is awesome. Barbie shows young girls that you can do anything," said Jenna Morales.
Oppenheimer fans, meanwhile, said they were looking forward to historical accuracy and
seeing the namesake's unsung story.
"They should have made this film a long time ago because Oppenheimer deserved to have a film to know about the Manhattan Project and everything that he did with it," said Amy McKenzie.
There was, in spite of all the surrounding debate, a third option for many out at the movies, a phenomenon labeled by fans of both films as Barbenheimer.
"They're both gonna be great films, the directors are both great," said Rocket Haverland.
Some Colorado residents opted to drop the debate and settle for a double feature of both Barbie and Oppenheimer.
"They're just two masterclass pieces of cinema that come out on the same day," said Garett Wrench.
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