Will ‘Barbie’ be this year’s ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ at the Oscars?

Not many would consider “Barbie” and “Top Gun: Maverick” to be similar films, per se, but they could occupy a similar space at the Oscars. They’re both populist event movies that won over critics and invigorated the box office at an uncertain time for Hollywood. “Maverick” ended up with six Academy Award noms including Best Picture. How many will “Barbie” get?

It’s unusual for a blockbuster summer sequel to be considered prestige fare at Oscar time, but “Top Gun: Maverick” was more than just a hit movie. It was a critically acclaimed crowd-pleaser that became a symbol of Hollywood’s resurgence after the COVID-19 pandemic threatened the entire industry. With more than $700 million grossed domestically and $1.5 billion taken in worldwide, it eclipsed the original film from 1986 and reintroduced audiences to the joy of big-screen Hollywood spectacle.

Now comes “Barbie.” The industry isn’t under the thumb of the pandemic as it was just a year or two ago, but the industry’s writers and actors are currently fighting for their professional lives, and the one-two punch of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” — both released on July 21 and dubbed “Barbenheimer” by those who made them an unlikely double feature — shined a positive light on the wide range of Hollywood creativity. They weren’t pitted against each other as films normally are. They were celebrated as a joint pop cultural phenomenon. And like “Maverick,” “Barbie” has been a critical as well as commercial success, with the added distinction of setting new box office records for still-underrepresented female filmmakers.

According to the combined Oscar predictions of thousands of Gold Derby users as of this writing, “Barbie” ranks fourth in the Best Picture race with 21/2 odds. It’s not a typical Oscar contender by any means — it’s still a movie based on a line of toys, after all — but neither was “Maverick.” And like “Maverick,” it could rise up the ranks of the industry’s best films in part because of what it represents: it’s a big fat hit that made audiences excited to go to the movies at a time when not all of the news coming out of Hollywood is good.

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