DENVER (KDVR) — After what feels like months of anticipation, July 21 has arrived which means “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” are showing in theaters across the country. But which movie are Coloradans more excited about?
Colorado has a unique connection to Barbie as the creator of the doll itself grew up in Denver. Ruth Handler and her husband, Elliot Handler, met while at East High School. The couple formed the Mattel company with business partner Harold Matson in 1945 after moving to California.
However, many Coloradans were also excited to see “Oppenheimer” and the several different formats it was being shown in.
So, what does the data say about which movie people are more interested in?
One way to measure the popularity of each movie is to look at Google search data. According to Google, more people in Colorado searched “Barbie” in the last month than “Oppenheimer.”
In Colorado, the searches for “Barbie” were double the searches for “Oppenheimer” at the peak of the data. Although, both movies had an increase in interest since June 21.
On average, “Barbie” was searched by Coloradans 57 times per day while “Oppenheimer” was only searched 28 times a day.
In order to settle the debate between the two hit films, many fans are headed to the theaters to see both movies in a term coined “Barbenheimer.”
Time will tell which movie will come out as the front-runner at the box office.

