Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

It’s Barbenheimer time: The best double feature movies like Barbie and Oppenheimer

A split image of Barbie and Oppenheimer.
Warner Bros./Universal

We live in strange times. Elon Musk runs Twitter like it is his own personal blog. Actors and writers are striking against unfair working conditions to an uncaring, streaming-obsessed studio system. And the phenomenon known as “Barbenheimer” is finally upon us, threatening to overtake all of social media and pop culture as we know it.

Barbenheimer is the result of two movies, Greta Gerwig’s feminist comedy Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s somber nuclear war drama Oppenheimer, completely different in subject matter, style, and tone, being released on the same day. While the fever pitch of Barbenheimer is a first, the concept of counterprogramming is, of course, nothing new in Hollywood. The following list is a compilation of two wildly different movies released at the same time that make great double features to watch as well. These five movie duos, from superheroes and musically-inclined wedding parties to animated ape-men and post-modern techno-thrillers, are noteworthy antecedents to Barbenheimer and also a great way to pass the time.

The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia! (July 18, 2008)

Batman rides his Bat-Cycle in The Dark Knight.

Before Barbenheimer, there was ABBA Batman. Two movies can’t be more dissimilar than The Dark Knight and Mamma Mia!, and like Barbie and Oppenheimer after it, that’s part of the appeal of watching them back-to-back. Enough has been written about The Dark Knight to fill a small library. Let’s just say the Christopher Nolan movie still holds up after all these years, particularly in its depiction of a city on the verge of chaos thanks to one individual, Heath Ledger’s Joker, who is willing to call out the moral hypocrisies of the powers that be that keep it running.

Time has been kind to Mamma Mia! as well. When it was first released, it was seen as something of a joke. Who wants to see Meryl Streep singing ABBA tunes in a small Greek village? Yet the sheer silliness of Mamma Mia!‘s plot, and indeed its very existence, is a large part of its charm. It doesn’t matter that half the cast can’t dance or sing. (Poor Pierce Brosnan is a wonderful James Bond, but can’t carry a tune at all.) What does matter is that everyone is having a blast, and the feeling is infectious. Whereas The Dark Knight forced people to confront their fears and anxieties, Mamma Mia! is pure, sunny escapism, and a necessary come-down from the Batman sequel’s unrelenting intensity.

Superman Returns and The Devil Wears Prada (June 28, 2006)

Meryl Streep sits at a desk in The Devil Wears Prada.
20th Century Fox

Another superhero-and-Meryl Streep combo, although this time, it’s Meryl’s movie that’s more intense and alarming, especially for those who’ve endured bad bosses in their careers. Yes, I’m actually recommending you watch The Devil Wears Prada first; sure, it’s fun and frothy, but its comedic take on the boss-from-hell trope still warrants the top slot. Prada is probably the most effortless movie ever made; it hums along, and never gets too old even on the 20th rewatch. (And yes, I’ve watched it that many times.)

Also, you can secretly replace Kevin Spacey with Meryl as Superman villain Lex Luthor when you watch the deeply flawed Superman Returns. That movie, one of DC’s many, many, many failed feature attempts to replicate comic book magic, is still worth watching, if only for Brandon Routh’s gentle portrayal of the Man of Steel and Parker Posey’s looney evil sidekick Kitty Kowalski. Both movies together represent a Hollywood that doesn’t really exist anymore, one that didn’t always focus on building cinematic worlds, stuffing gratuitous cameos in bad films, or male-centric movies.

Mad Max: Fury Road and Pitch Perfect 2 (May 15, 2015)

Max jumps from a car in Mad Max: Fury Road.
Mad Max: Fury Road Village Roadshow Pictures

War boys and glee club fans were united for the first and last time on May 15, 2015, when Warner Bros. released one of the best action movies ever made, Mad Max: Fury Road, with Universal’s superior sequel in their acapella franchise, Pitch Perfect 2. Fury Road‘s legend is such that an oral history about its creation, Blood, Sweat, & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road, was released last year, and reminded everyone just how awesome it is. I don’t need to repeat all of its merits here, except to say Charlize Theron gave one of the best action movie performances since Sigourney Weaver in Aliens, and she’ll forever have a place in cinematic Valhalla for her fierce Furiosa.

As for Pitch Perfect 2, it does what sequels should do: doubles down on what made the original so good but with a bigger budget and more confidence from its cast and crew. Actress Elizabeth Banks made her directorial debut with this sequel, and it’s led her to make more diverse and interesting films like this year’s Cocaine Bear. After roughing it in a post-apocalyptic landscape for a couple of hours, it’s good to spend some time with Pitch Perfect 2‘s warring singing groups who care more about winning a competition rather than staying alive in a remote desert like Fury Road‘s characters.

Tarzan and Run Lola Run (June 16, 1999)

A woman runs into a group of nuns in Run Lola Run.
Arte Pictures

1999 was a great year for movies of all kinds, and that includes Disney animated movies and independent foreign films about the fickle nature of life and destiny. Tarzan isn’t as well-known as other ’90s Disney favorites like The Lion King or even Mulan, but it’s just as good as them. The movie features classic Disney elements like an orphaned hero, a charming romance, a wicked villain, and a great pop score by Phil Collins, who crafted the Oscar-winning song You’ll Be In My Heart. Is it corny? Yes. But Tarzan still represents a period when Disney could do no wrong and remains a thrilling adventure that captures the breathless beauty of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s original story.

Run Lola Run is live-action, but it has the look, feel, and fearlessness of an animated movie; you feel like it could break the laws of physics with its dynamic, virtuoso filmmaking. The movie’s story is simple: Lola’s boyfriend is in trouble, and she’s the only one that can bail him out of it. Yet the hook here is that the choices Lola makes change the outcome of her story; in three separate sections, we see all the big and small decisions that, if changed, can alter her life, and the lives of everyone around her, forever. Run Lola Run may seem like an odd pairing with a Disney movie, but both leave you feeling rushed and intoxicated and what more can you ask from a double feature like that?

Editor’s note: Run Lola Run’s release date is the United States commercial release date. It premiered on August 20, 1998 in Germany.

Sleepless in Seattle and What’s Love Got To Do With It (May 25, 1993)

A father and a son talk to a woman in Sleepless in Seattle.
TriStar Pictures

1993 was the second coming of the summer of love, both romantic and toxic, with the release of Sleepless in Seattle and What’s Love Got to Go With It, two movies that, while targeting the same female demographic, couldn’t be any more different from each other. Start with Sleepless in Seattle; nothing about it has dated except maybe Tom Hanks’ hair. The rom-com is truly romantic and funny, with great supporting work from Rosie O’Donnell, Rob Reiner, Rita Wilson, and Bill Pullman, and flawless star turns from Hanks and Meg Ryan. It’s a movie that will make you believe in the power of love at first sight and frequent flyer miles.

What’s Love Got to Do With It, on the other hand, is a wake-up call, and a warning. In telling the true story of Tina Turner’s abusive marriage to Ike Turner, the movie doesn’t sugarcoat the harsh realities Tina had to go through to win her freedom and accomplish one of the greatest musical comebacks in history. What’s Love Got to Do With It is tough to take, as it should be, but it’s ultimately a triumphant and life-affirming movie that gave Angela Bassett the best role of her impressive career. Both movies stand the test of time for different reasons, and both are great to watch both paired or separately at any time of the year.

Editors' Recommendations

Jason Struss
Section Editor, Entertainment
Jason is a writer, editor, and pop culture enthusiast whose love for cinema, television, and cheap comic books has led him to…
The best animated movies on Netflix right now
A cat points a bat at another cat in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

While Nimona has been the big Netflix original animated film of the summer, it's far from the only addition to the lineup. Netflix is making sure that animation fans are well served in August with the first two Despicable Me movies, Bee Movie, and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2. However, Netflix's biggest recent addition is one of 2022's biggest animated hits: DreamWorks' Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.

Netflix's deals with Sony Pictures Animation, DreamWorks Animation, and Universal Pictures have given it a powerhouse library of animated films. And that's before we even get into Netflix's impressive originals like The Sea Beast. To help you keep track of what's new and what you can stream right now, we've updated our list of the best animated movies on Netflix.

Read more
From Barbarella to Howard the Duck: the 7 cheesiest sci-fi movies ever
Howard the Duck in "Howard the Duck."

The science-fiction genre has a vast smorgasbord of cheesy films stretching way back to the early days of cinema. Such pictures are known for their weird stories, unrealistic dialogue, low-budget productions, and exaggerated acting.

While many of these films have been panned by critics and audiences alike, some of them have garnered success for being "so bad, they're good." Whether or not they have been held up by a dedicated fan base, these seven movies stand out as the cream of the cheesy sci-fi crop.
Flash Gordon (1980)

Read more
10 best Batman stories ever, ranked
Batman Year One cover

Bounding from rooftop to rooftop, the Dark Knight never misses his mark. He operates like a well-oiled machine tracking bad guys, beating them to a bloody pulp, and throwing them in the slammer - or Arkham Asylum should they be anyone of Gotham's notable supervillains. As the brainchild of Bob Kane and Bill Finger, an artist and writer duo, Batman has been pounding the pavement of Gotham ever since his debut in Detective Comics in 1939. He's undergone a number of changes since his original conception ultimately becoming the brooding powerhouse we know today.

Most understand the basic tenants of Batman these days. His parents were murdered before his young eyes leading him down this path of personal vindication and pursuit of justice. Batman, in most iterations, never resorts to killing -- the one crime that separates his outlaw vigilante operations from the real criminals. Of course, it wasn't always that way. In Batman's earliest days, he had no qualms about ending the lives of baddies on the streets. Even now, some stories and films like Tim Burton's gothic take on the character depict him looking on with cold and uncaring glares as criminals meet their end. Regardless, Batman is mostly a well-established hero simply seeking justice and there are countless stories of the Caped Crusader. Let's take a look at the best among them.
10. Hush

Read more