Movie lovers and industry analysts will be talking about the dual U.S. releases of Barbie and Oppenheimer this month—but not, perhaps, the films’ own stars.
Two much-hyped summer films, the Greta Gerwig-directed Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, are slated to hit U.S. theaters on Friday. While fans may be looking forward to seeing both movies during the same weekend, dubbing the mashup “Barbenheimer” on social media, the Screen Actors Guild — American Federation of Television and Radio Artists strike may hamper studios’ promotional efforts.
The Screen Actors Guild’s National Board voted to strike on Thursday, with the strike becoming effective just after midnight on Friday. Strike rules prohibit SAG members from promotional activities, such as making personal appearances, sitting for interviews, and attending premieres and screenings, for films produced under a union contract.
Already, that’s resulted in changes for the movies’ rollouts. The cast of Oppenheimer, including Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, and Florence Pugh, left the film’s U.K. premiere on Thursday. Variety on Friday reported that the red carpet portion of the U.S. premiere would be cancelled due to the strike, citing a statement from production company Universal Pictures. Universal did not immediately respond to Barron’s request for comment sent over the weekend.
Barbie has already hosted so-called “pink carpet” premieres in cities such as Los Angeles and London. Margot Robbie, one of the film’s stars, voiced her support for the strike in a video interview with SkyNews during the film’s London premiere on Wednesday. “I’m very much in support of all the unions,” she said, according to the video.
The strike follows unsuccessful negotiations with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers over a new contract. The Alliance represents producers such as Walt Disney, NBCUniversal, Warner Bros. Discovery, and
Netflix,
Barron’s wrote previously.
Film promotion is a small piece of the strike actions, which also include performing work on or off camera, such as acting, singing, voice acting, and narration, and background work such as rehearsing and auditioning.
The Writers Guild of America has similarly been on strike since May 2, after the union’s bargaining agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers expired. It’s the first time both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA have been on strike together since 1960, the New York Times reported. “We stand solidly behind our union siblings in SAG-AFTRA as they begin their work stoppage,” the WGA wrote in a Thursday statement.
Write to Shaina Mishkin at [email protected]
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