“I am stretched on your grave And I’ll lie here forever If your hands were in mine I’d be sure they would not sever My apple tree, my brightness It’s time we were together For I smell of the Earth And I’m worn by the weather.
When my family thinks That I’m safely in my bed Oh, from morn until night I am stretched out at your head Calling out unto the earth With tears hot and wild For the loss of a girl That I loved as a child.
Do you remember the night Oh, the night when we were lost In the shade of the blackthorn And the touch of the frost? Oh, and thanks be to Jesus We did all that was right And your maidenhead still Is your pillar of light.
Oh, the priests and the friars They approach me in dread Oh, for I love you still Oh, my life, and you’re dead I still will be your shelter Through rain and through storm And with you in your cold grave I cannot sleep warm
So I am stretched on your grave And I’ll lie here forever If you hands were in mine I’d be sure they would not sever My apple tree, my brightness It’s time we were together For I smell by the Earth And I’m worn by the weather.”
The film industry’s happiest weekend in a long time may also be its last happy weekend for many months.
With the dual opening of “Barbie,” Greta Gerwig’s comedy based on the Mattel doll, and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” a biopic about the mastermind behind the atomic bomb, the pop culture phenomenon of “Barbenheimer” is upon us. Though the movies are wildly different in style and tone, by helpfully landing on the same day, the buildup has so captured the public consciousness that many movie fans, who have been slow to return to theaters at all, are eager to watch two of the year’s most anticipated titles back-to-back.
Analysts have predicted a record-breaking box office weekend: “Barbie” will debut well north of $150 million domestically and may even top the opening gross of this year’s champ, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie.” “Oppenheimer,” also in its first weekend, is set to make more than $50 million, a thunderous achievement for a dense, three-hour drama. For a theatrical sector still battered by the pandemic and diminished by the rise of streaming, this potent double win would normally presage popped corks all over Hollywood.
But any champagne will come with caveats, as the two movies open during a dual strike that has brought the industry to a near-standstill.
On Friday, the Hollywood actors’ strike reached the one-week mark, after the 160,000 members of the SAG-AFTRA union joined members of the Writers Guild of America, who have been on strike since May. Both labor actions are expected to last for months, scuttling plans to put new studio films into the pipeline and jeopardizing the ones already set to come out, since actors have been ordered not to promote them during the strike.
Even those cheering the success of “Barbenheimer” fear this weekend’s box-office sugar high might be short-lived. There are no other “Barbie”-level blockbusters on the release calendar until “Dune: Part Two” on Nov. 3, and even that sci-fi sequel could be delayed until next year if the actors’ strike persists, since stars like Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and Austin Butler would be forbidden to take part in the film’s global press tour.
Already, some upcoming films have had their release plans modified as a result of the SAG-AFTRA strike. The Helen Mirren drama “White Bird” and A24’s Julio Torres comedy “Problemista” were supposed to launch in August and are now without an official release date, while “Challengers,” a tennis romance starring Zendaya, on Friday abdicated its prestigious slot as the opening-night title at the Venice Film Festival, which begins Aug. 30. That film, like the Emma Stone comedy “Poor Things,” had been set for theatrical release in September in order to capitalize on a starry press push at Venice. Now “Challengers” has moved to April 2024, according to Deadline.
Theaters that are barely back from the brink since the pandemic would be tested once again, while the films that were already dated for 2024 might be forced to free up space. And without the usual influx of year-end prestige films, this year’s awards season could look very different — and, in another way, all-too-familiar.
Worst-case scenario: Every studio on the planet decides to move their fourth-quarter movies into next year. Suddenly, the last contenders for awards are ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer.’ Then what happens?
Take it from an old newspaperman: Never test what the public can do without. You’d be surprised how much.
