Japanese Barbie Film Account Apologizes For “Barbenheimer” Meme

Around the world, the Barbenheimer meme has helped launch two Hollywood films into the stratosphere. In Japan, the meme isn’t going over nearly as well.

By Kay Benton

The official Japanese X (formerly Twitter) account for the film Barbie has issued an apology for the popular “Barbenheimer” meme. This response follows significant negative response on Japanese social media spaces to the meme, which fuses Barbie with the biographic film Oppenheimer. The two films released on the same day in many countries. The official US X account for the film acknowledging the meme has triggered a particularly strong response.

The Japanese poster for Barbie (2023), scheduled to release on the 11th. Oppenheimer, the other half of the Barbenheimer meme, does not yet have a release scheduled for the Japanese market.

Japanese Social Media Users Start #NoBarbenheimer Response

“Barbenheimer,” sometimes stylized as “#Barbenheimer,” is a meme that suggests viewing the two films back-to-back in a double feature. It gained traction due to the films’ same-day release as well as their drastically different tones. Oppenheimer is a dark biographical movie about J. Robert…