Pretty (Devoted) in Pink: ‘Barbie’ Hordes Spill Into Theaters

Karma Masselli wakened Thursday morning figuring out it was a special occasion. The “Barbie” film was lastly right here.

Masselli, 26, and her group of about 25 mates 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, Vintage Barbie, Malibu Barbie, Mermaid Barbie and extra.

Next was “Barbie brunch” at a buddy’s condominium 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 like it was the Super Bowl at our ‘Barbie brunch,’” Masselli mentioned. “It felt like we were getting together and having a holiday 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. People clapped and cheered and guffawed because the Warner Bros. brand — in pink — appeared onscreen and when Barbie was launched.

“It was amazing,” Masselli mentioned, rising from the theater. “I cried.”

Masselli, who wore a scorching pink tank high 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.

Starting 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 mates with, “Hi, Barbie,” grinning.

Many followers additionally selected to see a double characteristic 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 most important field workplace weekend since 2019.

“You could just feel the excitement, the energy and the joy in the theater,” mentioned Stephen Solomon, 24, who noticed “Barbie” on the AMC Lincoln Square on the Upper West Side. “It felt like an event.”

Mary Albus, 28, entered the AMC Kips Bay theater holding a classic Barbie doll, which she acquired on her twenty first birthday. Albus shares the doll together with her group of mates — the “sisterhood of the Traveling Barbie” — passing it round from buddy to buddy. Vintage Barbie was at one buddy’s marriage 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 were like, ‘You have to take her to the Barbie movie,’” Albus mentioned.

May Haaf mentioned seeing the film together with her 9-year-old daughter, Arya, was a bonding occasion and a strategy to rejoice feminine empowerment. Both wore matching white and pink “Barbie” T-shirts.

“It’s like a new generation of movies where women can be individuals and not be married, and you don’t have to settle for anything,” Haaf mentioned.

Other followers who watched the film additionally associated to the movie’s themes of feminine empowerment.

“The movie especially was a really great commentary on the difficulties of being a woman but also how beautiful it is at the same time and the dichotomy that exists in womanhood,” mentioned Sadie Veach, 23, who was carrying a pink pantsuit and pink eyeliner. Veach’s buddy, 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 more than just pink,” Mathis mentioned. “With Barbie you can be anybody you want to be.”

Maansi Srivastava contributed reporting.