Madeline Halpert
Reporting from New York

Sage Siegel and Maddie Gore aren’t just here for Barbie. They’ve got a packed double feature day, heading to Barbie in the early afternoon and the three-hour Oppenheimer at 23:00 EST.

For outfits, they went with '70s Malibu Barbie and cowgirl Barbie.

Siegel said she’s heard the Barbie movie was both a fun and emotional experience, while she’s excited for the visuals of Oppenheimer.

They’re switching outfits before the second film, opting for darker make up and more somber clothes.

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from New York

We're checking back in from the Malibu Barbie Cafe in New York City.

Moe Moore and her two girls, Leila and Corie, wearing bright pink Barbie sunglasses, came from Baltimore, Maryland to go to the Barbie cafe.

That's about 305km (190 miles) away.

Moore and her daughters all grew up playing with Barbies.

Enjoying root beer floats and quesadillas, the girls said they couldn’t contain their excitement for the movie.

“I’m going to scream,” Corie said.

Steven McIntosh
Entertainment reporter

For weeks, Barbie enjoyed acres of publicity before any critics had even had the chance to see it.

Keeping critics in the dark about the quality of a film until the last minute can occasionally be an indication that the studio doesn’t think its movie is very good.

However, in this case, when the reviews embargo lifted this week, reviews of Barbie were broadly positive.

Empire said the film was "painfully funny", while the Independent called it “one of the most inventive, immaculately crafted and surprising mainstream films in recent memory”.

Not everybody was a fan, however. the Daily Mail called it "uneven and disjointed", while Time said it was "very pretty but not very deep".

You can read more about the critical reaction here.

Now that we've spent some time looking at the actor and writers strikes, and the dire situation at the box office, let's take a look at the actual films of Barbie and Oppenheimer.

Are they actually good?

Let's kick it off with Christopher Nolan's three-hour epic.

There is already talk that Oppenheimer could win an elusive Oscar for director Nolan and cast members Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr.

You can read a review of Oppenheimer, written by BBC Culture's film critic Caryn James, by clicking here.

James called it "boldly imaginative and his (Nolan's) most mature work yet".

Pratiksha Ghildial
Reporting from New York City

In the neon backdrop of New York’s Times Square, members of the SAG-AFTRA union gathered this morning waving placards and shouting slogans like “What do we want? A contract”.

Michael Gaston has been an actor for 33 years and worked in dramas like Prison Break and The Sopranos. He says fans of Barbie and Oppenheimer have every right to go see the blockbusters, but he won’t be doing that until actors like him get a deal.

“You should enjoy the movies but maybe when you are done, look a bit deeply into what’s going on and the way the people who produced that thing are being treated.”

“Ryan Gosling (who stars in Barbie) can take care of himself... But what we are worried about is the rest of the people on that screen and making sure that they can make a living.”

Actress Jessica Hecht, of the sitcom Friends fame and the drama Succession, says she feels a sense of conflict on a day the two blockbusters have released.

“I don’t want people to stop loving movies and the integrity of this artform should be upheld. The fact is that people who are benefitting from this financially are the executives.”

Sam Granville
Reporting from Los Angeles

Ruby, 8, drove several hours this morning with her mum to come see Barbie.

She dresses in her favorite pink outfit and brought her best doll along.

Ruby loves to dress Barbie up and design clothes for her. She says she looks up to Barbie for always trying something new.

"She shows girls all the different job opportunities that they can have her," Ruby says.

"She is at like 101 jobs or something! That's a lot of jobs. She is super inspiring."

Ruby's mom Stacey agrees.

"She's always showing the versatility and just she's also iconic to people my age, because back then she was just a doll but she represented like you can be anything."

A lot of the hype around today's double premiere is because Hollywood has been having an underwhelming year. And it's been rough ever since Covid ground the industry to a halt.

Cinema ticket sales have been slow to recover, but several films have found box office success.

Here’s a rundown of the top five post-Covid hits and how much they made worldwide:

1. Avatar: The Way of Water (2022) - $2bn
2. Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021) - $1.9bn
3. Top Gun: Maverick (2022) - $1bn
4. Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) - £1bn
5. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022) - $947m

Image source, .

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from New York

Here at the Malibu Barbie Cafe right by the East River in Manhattan, reservations have been fully booked since the pop-up spot opened in May, workers say.

Barbie fans have been coming in hordes to pose amid plentiful pink Barbie decor; to reminisce about their favorite vintage dolls; to buy Barbie t-shirts and tote bags; and to enjoy a cocktail at the surf-themed bar.

I'll be chatting to some of the megafans here to see what they have planned for today.

Image source, Warner Bros/Universal Pictures

Perhaps the most important question for movie fans is, which order do you see the films?

Do you start out with the three-hour Oppenheimer to feel that existential dread of the potential destruction of society, and then pick up your mood with a two-hour hit of Barbie’s neon-pink comedy?

Or do you reverse that order and start with the feel-good vibes of Barbie and finish with the explosive Oppenheimer?

Whatever you decide, you won’t be alone.

AMC theatre chain says tens of thousands of people have pre-booked the Barbenheimer double feature this weekend in the US.

Steven McIntosh
Entertainment reporter

The release of Barbenheimer – as the Barbie and Oppenheimer films are jointly known – comes just over a week after the US actors’ union SAG announced a strike.

Hollywood was brought to a standstill as major films and TV shows ceased production as soon as the strike action was announced.

The London premieres of Barbie and Oppenheimer were two of the final events to be held before the strike took effect – both taking place in the 36 hours before the strike was confirmed.

While Barbie took over Leicester Square in London last Wednesday, Oppenheimer’s launch the following evening cut it particularly fine, with many stars downing tools and leaving the event as it was still taking place.

Stars such as Matt Damon, Emily Blunt and Cillian Murphy went from signing autographs and giving interviews on the red carpet to, minutes later, leaving the premiere altogether as SAG announced the strike.

Of course, the walkout only generated more publicity for the film.

But now the strike is under way, it’s likely other showbiz events will be postponed.

The forthcoming Emmy Awards, scheduled for September, and the autumn film festivals such as Telluride, Toronto and Venice are all now under threat.

“Barbenheimer” has dominated internet culture for weeks.

It’s that rare perfect storm where social media memes do a better job at building hype organically than any marketing team could ever dream of.

People are sharing their Barbenheimer costumes, unofficial merchandise is flooding online marketplaces, and the memes have been coming thick and fast.

Even Barbie’s Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig got in on the action by posing in front of an Oppenheimer movie poster with tickets to see their friendly rival.

We saw a similar thing happen last summer with the #GentleMinions TikTok trend - where teen boys decided it would be funny to wear suits and watch Minions: The Rise of Gru.

You can read more about what Barbenheimer really means for Hollywood here.

Image source, Barbie Movie/Warner Bros

Caryn James
Film critic, BBC Culture

In its earliest screenings, Christopher Nolan's much-hyped Oppenheimer was living up to its strong box office projection of $50m (£38.8m) on opening weekend.

The biographical film about J. Robert Oppenheimer, who led the US project to create the atomic bomb, took in $10.5m in its US preview screenings on Thursday in advance of its Friday opening. It earned $2.4m from international preview screenings on Wednesday.

No one ever expected Oppenheimer's box office to match that of Barbie, the other half of the instant-classic pairing known as Barbenheimer.

Barbie made $22.3m in previews and could take in well over over $100m on opening weekend.

But Oppenheimer is an intense drama, where Barbie is a comedy.

Nolan's film opens on 3600 screens compared to Barbie's 4200 in North America.

And the three-hour running time means there are fewer screenings of Oppenheimer per day. On its own terms Oppenheimer is well on its way to being a hit.

Steven McIntosh
Entertainment reporter

Barbie and Oppenheimer might be coming out on the same day in a friendly rivalry which has received a blaze of publicity, but there is little doubt as to which will perform better at the box office.

Forbes reports that Barbie is projected to make $110m (£85m) at the US box office this weekend, while Oppenheimer is predicted to gross $50m (£39m).

The two films may perform differently overseas - in India, for example, where Barbie isn’t such a big deal, Oppenheimer has sold four times as many advance tickets.

But broadly speaking, the projections reported by Forbes suggest Barbie will generally take twice as much money as Oppenheimer.

Who knows if that will come to fruition - the box office is a notoriously difficult beast to predict these days, with audience habits changing all the time.

We should get an indication of how both films have performed in the US on Sunday evening, with UK box office figures following early next week.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the cultural event that's been dubbed "Barbenheimer".

Two of Hollywood's biggest films of the summer are being released on the same day, Barbie and Oppenheimer.

The hype has been building for weeks and the big studios will be hoping box office numbers can match the interest we've been seeing on social media.

Today is a major test for the film industry as a whole, which has had an underwhelming few years after the Covid pandemic.

And today's big releases come against the backdrop of massive strikes by the actors and writers unions - who have demanded more pay and better working conditions.

Stay with us for live updates, analysis and reactions as Barbenheimer begins.