where were you on july 22, 2023?

bravely telling my barbenheimer at amc burbank 16 story

No portmanteau word in recent years has caused quite a stir, at least in my world, like Barbenheimer. No one knows why we were so ready to have two completely different yet equally huge movies come out on the same day - but we were. My friends and I had a particularly memorable and stupid Barbenheimer Saturday™ (July 22, 2023) at one of the 3 AMCs that are for some reason in the same one-mile radius in Burbank.

The day started out normal enough; putting together an outfit equal times pink and black in wholesome excitement, making sure we stop hydrating a few hours before to avoid interrupting either movie with a bathroom break, etc. We had gotten tickets literal months ago (it was sold out to the point of people selling tickets on Craigslist) and the itinerary was: Oppenheimer matinee, dinner and drinks break, Barbie at 8pm to cap things off.

It was a 90-degree day in Burbank and the first thing you noticed was the sheer amount of people. Listen, I’m at this theater once a week at minimum and there are times when I’m one of the only 3 people there, and that’s unfortunately something that's become normal over the years. So seeing the place at capacity with a line out the door was a shock to every system:

(pro tip: always order your snacks in advance on the AMC app to skip the line.)

The air inside the theater was buzzing with the awareness that we hadn’t experienced collective intrigue like this since… a while. Oppenheimer began, with the now-iconic opening scene of raindrops resembling atomic blasts falling on the ground, when suddenly, things took a turn for the absurd.

The loudest alarm you’ve ever heard started blaring and the screen went black. We were ushered out of the theater, and when I say we I mean all 4000 of us in the building, towards the patio and right under the 2pm Valley sun.

An employee came out (as we were in deep regret over not grabbing our sodas on the way out) to let us know they’d reopen in 2 HOURS after a thorough inspection (spoiler alert: some jokester pulled the fire alarm because they thought it’d be a funny story. and they were right!)

All you heard on the patio were groans and sounds of phones being pulled out to book the next available screening: “I just grabbed the single seat available for 11:55pm tonight” “are you fine to go three Saturdays from now if we all sit separately?” and so on. That is until the firefighters arrived and groaning turned into hootin’ and hollerin’ as the (very hot and capable) men ran up the stairs.

We decided to nurse our disappointment at a nearby bar until our Barbie showing in 4 hours. We gave up on seeing Oppenheimer together and booked individual seats across different theaters. I had a beer, then coffee, then another beer. We watched the crowds in front of the Batman statue get somehow increasingly larger as prime time for moviegoing approached. 

When we returned for Barbie, the theater looked like it went through a war. Floors sticky, popcorn and napkins absolutely everywhere, employees beyond irritated and of course - air conditioners broken. They put out a stack of drink trays to be used as makeshift fans and we thought, sure! Why would we want to experience Barbie any other way, than in steamy a room with 100s of people and no ventilation? (thankfully the air kicked in before Ryan Gosling’s first musical number)

All in all, couldn’t have asked for a more memorable experience seeing 2023’s biggest movies (or not seeing, in Oppenheimer’s case, but it’s OK as I went on to see it a whopping 4 times in theaters). There was one shared feeling that managed to break through the sweat and disappointment that day - the appreciation for experiencing the highs and lows of moviegoing with a large amount of strangers. I don’t care how many think pieces are written about the habit of going to the movies being dead. It is at most lying dormant in every one of us, waiting to be activated with the right combination of movie, marketing campaign and themed dress code. Praying for a repeat this year for Twisters.