The Warner Bros. Film Group in the United States has issued an apology over a social media controversy involving the official promoter of the film Barbie engaging with users regarding 'Barbenheimer', which caused outrage in Japan. In a statement to multiple media outlets, the film group said ''Warner Brothers regrets its recent insensitive social media engagement. The studio offers a sincere apology.''
The apology came after massive public criticism of Warner Bros. in Japan.
What actually happened?
The official X account of Barbie, US division, interacted and responded with a few users on 'Barbenheimer' topic, referring to its positive replies to the dual summer releases of Universal's Oppenheimer and Warner Bros. Barbie.
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Earlier, Warner Bros. Japan also issued a statement on its official X (formerly Twitter) account, criticising its US division for participating in the 'Barbenheimer' engagements. ''We consider it extremely regrettable that the official account of the American headquarters for the movie ‘Barbie’ reacted to the social media postings of ‘Barbenheimer’ fans,'' Warner Bros. Japan wrote in a statement on X.
About Oppenheimer and Barbie
Both the films, Oppenheimer and Barbie were released on the same date, July 21, worldwide. The films garnered huge openings across the globe and also the weekend became the fourth highest-grossing weekend in history. While Barbie is released in Japan simultaneously to it worldwide release, Oppenheimer is yet to be released in the country. And, no official date has been announced so far.
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Oppenheimer revolves around the life of J Robert Oppenheimer, who is also known as the 'father of the atomic bomb'.
If some reports are to be believed, the two atomic bombs launched by the US on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II took as many as 250,000 lives.
Barbie features Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling in the lead roles. On the other hand, Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy and Robert Downey Jr in key roles.
