AI Creates 'Barbenheimer' Trailer, Fans Demand Movie Next

The “Barbenheimer'”phenomenon resulted from a pop culture conundrum. There were two highly-anticipated blockbusters being released the same weekend with two celebrated directors. These movies were complete opposites as far as premise, visual style and tone. The choice became too much for many movie-lovers to bare until a viral push to double-feature both films was born.

This trend exploded as Barbie would go onto gross over $1 billion and Oppenheimer would rake in $600 million. The social anomaly also created a fashion craze that encouraged audience members to dress in pink or 1940s attire. Sometimes there was a mash-up of both looks. This cinematic sensation had blown up to the point where indie filmmakers decided to use AI to reimagine Barbenheimer as an actual movie.

Curious Refuge is a company that blended dialogue from Barbie and Oppenheimer to create a blueprint for the trailer. Then, they used a movie generator AI called Runway Gen2 and an image generator known as AI Midjourney to design the trailer’s creation. The project took four days to render. While the dialogue is the most robotic aspect of the movie trailer, its merger of both movie’s iconographies was captivating for many viewers. Here is the final result:

These AI systems masterfully and hilariously combined imagery from these two movies. The most striking aspect was the 1940s styled pink clothes, as well as the massive pink nuclear explosion. Next, Ken stole the show again with scenes depicting him glowing after consuming weaponized uranium, then later responding to Oppenheimer’s somber “destroyer of worlds” quote with it being “so awesome.”

“Barbenheimer” assembled such an unexpectedly epic, fan-driven viral marketing campaign, that it not only benefited the consumers and the studios, but inspired content creators to craft even more eye-catching achievements. The Barbenheimer trailer alone has been viewed nearly 350,000 times and continues to grow. Many cinematic classics have warned humanity about the evolution of AI, such as The Terminator, Avengers: Age of Ultron, I, Robot, The Matrix and WALL-E.

However, AI’s growing development in modern society is becoming more commonplace. So much that it allows for a genuine contemplation of how it should be used, especially for entertainment. Some speculate that AI is capable of revolutionizing cinema and saving companies, like Disney, through innovation, sustainability, and adaptability. Time will tell if it will be utilized this proficiently in the entertainment industry. Until then, AI will continue to be an incendiary topic that will delight many and equally terrify others.

What do you think of the trailer? Should an entire Barbenheimer movie be made next?