The proof is in the box-office pudding: “Barbenheimer” is a bona fide phenomenon. The buzz-generating, meme-producing double feature of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” took in a whopping $235.5 million in their opening weekend — $155 million and $80.5 million, respectively. Los Angeles-area film buffs were among those out in force to partake of one or both titles this weekend, many in shades of Barbie pink. (Not so many in J. Robert Oppenheimer-style brimmed hats. Even Nolan found those difficult to find in the wild.) The Times was on the scene in Century City to capture the atmosphere around the biggest movie weekend of the year.
Dania Maxwell is a staff photographer at the Los Angeles Times. Before joining the newsroom in 2018, she worked in Colombia, South America and at the Naples Daily News in Florida. Her work has been awarded an Emmy, POYi, Sigma Delta Chi and Edward R. Murrow. Maxwell received a master’s degree in visual communication from Ohio University and a bachelor of arts from Sarah Lawrence College.