Some will debate that press tours are also important to guarantee a movie’s commercial success, and that can be true for certain titles, which will be part of the reason why some movies are poised to underperform under the strike. It’s only because of that grassroots support that Barbenheimer became such a global sensation and that people actually saw both movies on the same day (which is the wildest thing imaginable, now having seen both films, but you do you).

When the studios started to get involved, the movement quickly died. It was exactly the case with the Gentleminions movement regarding Minions: The Rise of Gru last year - TikTok users started showing up in suits to see the film. Studios are now immediately trying to replicate the Barbenhimer success with Saw Patrol (if you weren’t aware, Saw X and PAW Patrol: The Mighty Movie are now coming out on the same day), but they fail to realize that Barbenheimer started out naturally through a grassroots campaign on social media. Were it not for the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the Barbenheimer cultural movement wouldn’t exist because those movies wouldn’t have gotten made. However, Barbenheimer could prove to be a case for wanting to end the strike as soon as possible because not only are there auteur-driven films that only their respective filmmakers could’ve crafted, but they have exceeded all commercial expectations and broken several domestic and international records.

It would be a shame to relive constant film & TV delays in a post-COVID world, but this is entirely of the studios’ own doing in not wanting to pay and treat their writers and actors fairly.

With the SAG-AFTRA strike already causing several movies to be delayed (as of this writing, only Challengers, White Bird, and Problemista have been confirmed to be pushed back, while other tentpoles like Dune: Part 2 and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom are considering moving to 2024), the fall movie season could dry up very quickly. Barbenheimer is finally upon us, and we’ve potentially got the biggest box office numbers of the year.

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