'Barbenheimer'-- Bombs-Brunch-Barbie

"Barbenheimer" is the term for when Barbie and Oppenheimer are combined.

For the better part of the last year there have been memes surrounding the release of Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" and Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer". This weird mashup movie release has turned into a night for a double feature at the theater.

Barbie is SHE. Her film will be pink, feminine and comedic. Oppenheimer is a three-hour long film of J. Robert Oppenheimer creating the atomic bomb. The two could not be more different.

Around the country there will be couples and friends who go see these movies as a double-feature. Including some from the Southeast Missouri area.

Sophia Capra and her friends plan to make an entire day out of the double feature, calling it BBB: Bombs-Brunch-Barbie. The group of eight women will be dressed in all black when they attend "Oppenheimer". Capra called what they are going for a "dapper look for".

The group will then head to grab brunch at a local restaurant in downtown Cape Girardeau. When they attend "Barbie" later in the day, they will each be dressed up as a different type of Barbie doll. Capra said she will be dressed as Malibu Barbie.

"As younger millennials or older Gen Z, we all kind of grew up with the Barbie movies. When we found out they are making a live-action Barbie movie, we got really excited. And when we found out 'Oppenheimer' was being released on the exact same day, we got even more excited. My friends and I kind of always had a little hyper fixation on World War II like most kids in high school when you are learning about American History." Capra said.

Capra said it is a toss-up between which film the group is more interested in seeing as they are a diverse group.

Sara Becker said she saw this idea of seeing both movies on Instagram and Twitter. She thought it was a good idea as she wanted to see both of the movies. Her plan for double feature is to watch "Oppenheimer" first, as it is longer and she doesn't want to fall asleep during the film. She and her boyfriend are planning to watch the films on the Tuesday following the release day, so they will not be one of the couples to dress up. She said she feels like more people will be dressing up for the films when they attend opening day. Becker said she is more excited to watch "Barbie" because of the previews she has seen.

Clay Herrell, a Southeast Missourian sports reporter, and his girlfriend will be watching the films back to back. Starting with "Barbie" at 5:30 p.m. and going straight to "Oppenheimer" at 8:10 p.m., saying it would be perfect timing and there would not be much downtime between the films.

"I imagine there will be a good amount of people who do this at some point. It seems like such a fun night and being able to see two of the more anticipated movies will be enticing for people." Herrell said.

Out of the two films, Herrell is more excited to see "Oppenheimer" as he enjoys history. However, he does think "Barbie" will be an entertaining movie. Herrell said the idea for this night out as a couple came off of TikTok. They had never been at the theater for such a long amount of time, but believe it will be a fun time.

Film major Isabel Phillips said when she was watching the trailers for both movies, she knew they would both be well done.

"I know doing history-based movies always is great because it informs your audience on what the point is. I feel like for 'Barbie', it's childhood memories, locking into those memories," Phillips said.

Phillips said she saw in the first teaser trailer for "Barbie" there was a black and white swimsuit outfit and remembered thinking, "Oh, my gosh, my mom has one of those Barbies".

Phillips and her friends will be dressing head to toe for the movies. They each will be wearing a black fedora and a full pink outfit including pink shirts, pink bootcut jeans and, of course, pink shoes. She said they took inspiration for their outfits from the rodeo cowgirl in the trailer.

Phillips said she saw this idea all over TikTok. From seeing the different types of memes that had Barbie in the duller colors of Oppenheimer to Oppenheimer in hot pink colors.

"It's Barbie! I played with Barbie when I was a kid and I love the idea of dressing up. So I hope other people do, too. I mean, it seems kind of fun."

"Barbie" and "Oppenheimer" premiere in theaters everywhere Friday, July 21. Don your best pink dress and nicest suit to watch the "Barbenheimer".