Barbie director Greta Gerwig explains movie’s ‘mic drop’ ending – latest

America Ferrera’s monologue in Barbie has been praised by viewers for highlighting the real difficulties of being a woman.

Any fears that the simultaneous release of Barbie and Oppenheimer would hurt the films’ returns have now surely been put to bed as both movies smash box office records.

In the build-up to the 21 July release date, it was reported that Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan was upset that Warner Bros had scheduled Greta Gerwig’s Barbie for the same day.

However, according to film-data research company The Quorum, Nolan actually received a significant box office boost thanks to the commercial success of Gerwig’s picture.

Despite an outspoken contingent of conservatives bashing the Barbie movie over a controversial map, Fox News put up a graphic showing where the flick is trending — revealing the movie is quite popular in red states.

The panel on Fox News’ America’s Newsroom were discussing the big box office weekend when co-host Dana Perino then asked for a map to be displayed, comparing where Oppenheimer and Barbie — represented respectively by blue and pink — were trending more in the United States. The map showed the southern half of the US was blanketed in pink.

“I don’t know what’s going on down South,” Ms Perino said. “They like this Barbie movie a lot.”

Read The Independent’s Jacob Stolworthy’s wide-ranging conversation with Oppenheimer’s director and lead actor

The blockbuster director and ‘Peaky Blinders’ star talk to Jacob Stolworthy about bringing to life the man who masterminded the creation of the atomic bomb

The release of Greta Gerwig’s much-anticipated film Barbie has reportedly been delayed in a province in Pakistan and the move has come under harsh criticism from the country’s social media users.

According to local reports, the country’s Punjab province has halted the release of the film over “objectionable content”.

Several social media users enraged after hearing news of delay

“[Emily Blunt] gave me a pair of Uggs boots – Ugg slippers, actually – as a wrap gift,” Oppenheimer director Christopher Nolan said on The View. “For people who have been on a set, people know how it works – we’re there, losing the light, ‘Okay, we need the actors to come in,’ and sometimes they’ll come straight from wardrobe, but they’ll have these big coats on top and they’ll be wearing these big Ugg boots, because the shoes of the character are uncomfortable. You know, 1940s shoes.”

However, Nolan explained that every time Blunt showed up wearing Uggs, it would “drive me crazy”.

“I’d immediately say to her, ‘Can you please just get rid of the boots, put the shoes on, and get ready to go?’” he recalled, before quipping: “And she got so sick of me saying that time after time, she thought I should join the cult of Ugg boots.”

Greta Gerwig has explained Barbie’s “mic drop” ending, revealing that its one-liner took inspiration from her personal experience as a teenage girl.

*Barbie spoilers below – you have been warned*

Director’s much-hyped movie is out in cinemas now

“Cillian Murphy allows the light to dim from his eyes in every subsequent scene, but it is Robert Downey Jr who is titanic here,” writes The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey.

Cillian Murphy allows the light to dim from his eyes in every subsequent scene, but it is Robert Downey Jr who is titanic here

With the two films out in the same week, many people have committed to seeing them one after the other, as part of a self-curated double bill.

The radically different tones of the two films has, however, provoked some debate regarding the optimal order in which to view the films.

Many people are attempting to take on the ‘Barbenheimer’ double bill, with both films out now

Mattel has sparked criticism for “stealth marketing” to children after a new programme gave away free Barbie dolls in schools, a move that health experts are claiming reinforces damaging gender stereotypes.

The toy manufacturer launched the “Barbie School of Friendship” programme this year, in which free Barbie dolls were given to an estimated 150,000 students in 700 schools across the UK to teach social skills.

Health experts have claimed Mattel-sponsored school programme ‘reinforces damaging gender stereotypes’