Cillian Murphy Is Going To Be In Barbie 2?

By Douglas Helm | Published

cillian murphy
Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer

Cillian Murphy had a great weekend thanks to the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon helping both blockbusters blast past their box office expectations. Of course, Barbie was the financial winner of the weekend and made boatloads of money, which almost guarantees that the film gets a sequel. If there does end up being a second film, Murphy said that he would be down to be a Ken if the opportunity came up.

Cillian Murphy says he would love to play a Ken in Barbie 2.

Honestly, Cillian Murphy being a Ken in Barbie 2 would be perfect casting and a great way to make a fourth-wall wink to the whole Barbenheimer phenomenon. Maybe he could even be Scientist Ken to really tie the whole thing together. Since there will never be an Oppenheimer 2, because of, ya know, history, it’s really the only way to make sure te Barbenheimer train keeps on rolling.

If Cillian Murphy doesn’t end up nabbing a role in the next Barbie, the pink-drenched film undoubtedly helped him to have one of his most successful opening weekends ever. Oppenheimer beat the projections and brought in $82.4 million at the domestic box office this weekend, along with $98 million internationally for a global total haul of $180 million. Christopher Nolan is a very popular filmmaker, but that’s still incredibly impressive for a 3-hour R-rated drama with hardly any action scenes.

With both films raking in boatloads of cash and getting phenomenal reviews, it’s a great time to go to the theaters.

While Cillian Murphy and Christopher Nolan are no doubt delighted with the popularity of Oppenheimer, it couldn’t surpass the megawatt performance of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, which brought in a jaw-dropping $162 million at the domestic box office and $194.3 million internationally for a global total of $356.3 million. These numbers made the Mattel doll-inspired film the biggest opening weekend of the year and the biggest debut ever for a film directed by a woman for Great Gerwig.

cillian murphy
Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer

The combined might of the Cillian Murphy-starring Oppenheimer and the Margot Robbie-starring Barbie created the fourth-biggest box office weekend in history with over $300 million industrywide. More impressive, the weekends that hold the top three spots are major sequels in the MCU and Star Wars franchises, so these two films were able to bring in the crowds without any established film franchise to lean on.

Honestly, Cillian Murphy being a Ken in Barbie 2 would be perfect casting and a great way to make a fourth-wall wink to the whole Barbenheimer phenomenon.

These impressive numbers for non-established film IPs come at a crucial time in Hollywood, where actors and writers are fighting for better pay and regulation of content generated by AI.

With both films raking in boatloads of cash and getting phenomenal reviews, it’s a great time to go to the theaters. It doesn’t seem like the cash flow will be slowing down anytime soon as both Cillian Murphy’s Oppenheimer and Margot Robbie’s Barbie smash box office expectations. It’ll be interesting to see how far they can go.

Both films are now playing with Oppenheimer chronicling the titular scientist’s contributions to the atomic bomb and Barbie following Barbie and Ken as they venture into the real world.

Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Robert Downey Jr, Matt Damon, and Florence Pugh. Barbie stars Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Will Ferrell, America Ferrara, Kate McKinnon, Simu Liu, and Issa Rae.