Karma Masselli awakened Thursday morning realizing it was a special occasion. The “Barbie” film was lastly right here.
Masselli, 26, and her group of about 25 pals started the festivities by rummaging by way of their closets for sheer pants and polyester shirts and pink Crocs to assemble their outfits, every representing a special doll: Cowgirl Barbie, Sporty Barbie, Classic Barbie, Malibu Barbie, Mermaid Barbie and extra.
Subsequent was “Barbie brunch” at a pal’s condo in Brooklyn, that includes an array of pink meals, together with pink deviled eggs, pop tarts, pasta salad with beets and pink salsa.
“It felt prefer it was the Tremendous Bowl at our ‘Barbie brunch,’” Masselli mentioned. “It felt like we had been getting collectively and having a vacation about girliness.”
By afternoon, the group arrived in Manhattan, on the AMC in Kips Bay, to observe the long-awaited movie. The screening was delayed for 25 minutes, however as soon as the movie began the packed theater erupted in applause. Folks clapped and cheered and guffawed because the Warner Bros. brand — in pink — appeared onscreen and when Barbie was launched.
“It was wonderful,” Masselli mentioned, rising from the theater. “I cried.”
Masselli, who wore a sizzling pink tank prime with glowing pink pants, was considered one of many New Yorkers who turned out for the opening weekend of “Barbie,” Greta Gerwig’s blockbuster movie starring Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken.
Beginning Thursday afternoon, at theaters throughout the nation and even abroad, seats had been offered out to crowds brimming with shade — one shade specifically. Some clutched their favourite dolls, whereas others greeted pals with, “Hello, Barbie,” grinning.
Many followers additionally selected to see a double function by watching each “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan’s biopic about J. Robert Oppenheimer and the making of the atomic bomb. The unlikely pairing of those two smashingly profitable movies resulted within the film occasion of the summer time and the largest field workplace weekend since 2019.
“You can simply really feel the joy, the vitality and the enjoyment within the theater,” mentioned Stephen Solomon, 24, who noticed “Barbie” on the AMC Lincoln Sq. on the Higher West Facet. “It felt like an occasion.”
Mary Albus, 28, entered the AMC Kips Bay theater holding a classic Barbie doll, which she obtained on her twenty first birthday. Albus shares the doll together with her group of pals — the “sisterhood of the Touring Barbie” — passing it round from pal to pal. Classic Barbie was at one pal’s wedding ceremony in North Carolina; she has additionally been to Chicago, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.
It simply occurred that the “Barbie” film premiered throughout Albus’s flip with the doll.
“They had been like, ‘You must take her to the Barbie film,’” Albus mentioned.
Might Haaf mentioned seeing the film together with her 9-year-old daughter, Arya, was a bonding occasion and a method to have fun feminine empowerment. Each wore matching white and pink “Barbie” T-shirts.
“It’s like a brand new technology of films the place girls will be people and never be married, and also you don’t should accept something,” Haaf mentioned.
Different followers who watched the film additionally associated to the movie’s themes of feminine empowerment.
“The film particularly was a very nice commentary on the difficulties of being a girl but additionally how stunning it’s on the similar time and the dichotomy that exists in womanhood,” mentioned Sadie Veach, 23, who was carrying a pink pantsuit and pink eyeliner. Veach’s pal, Taylee Mathis, 25, was carrying a pink shirt and pants and carrying a skateboard. She mentioned she grew up loving Barbie dolls, watching the Barbie animated motion pictures and dressing like Barbie.
“She’s extra than simply pink,” Mathis mentioned. “With Barbie you will be anyone you need to be.”
Maansi Srivastava contributed reporting.
