The patent for the primary Barbie ever produced from the gathering of Sid and Alicia Belzberg.
James Leynse | Corbis Historical | Getty Images
A weapons engineer turned doll maker is the unexpected link to “Barbenheimer,” the affectionately dubbed duo from Warner Bros.′ “Barbie” and Universal’s “Oppenheimer.”
The unlikely back-to-back summer marquee titles opened Friday following weeks of mania harping on the dissimilarities of the 2 movies — the whimsical and rosy world of “Barbie” alongside “Oppenheimer,” the extraordinary story of the American physicist who brought the world into the atomic age.
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And yet, the Barbie doll comes from a weapons background.
Before designing the world’s most famous doll, Jack Ryan worked for aerospace giant Raytheon and helped create the weapons that formed the backbone of America’s missile defense.
Ryan, a Yale-educated engineer, helped create the Sparrow and Hawk missiles, which laid the groundwork for the Patriot missile system, one of the crucial advanced air defense weapons in America’s arsenal.
Following his work within the arms business, Ryan went to Mattel, where he ascended to vp of research and design for the toy manufacturer.
On July 24, 1959, Ryan filed a U.S. patent detailing his concept for what would later turn into the world’s most recognizable toy doll. Ryan was granted the patent for “doll construction” in November 1961. He can be credited with creating toys like Chatty Cathy and the Hot Wheels collection.
Before his death in 1991 on the age of 65, Ryan had amassed greater than 1,000 patents on his designs.
Meanwhile, movie theaters are indicating strong ticket sales for “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” and have been adding additional showings to accommodate growing demand.
“Barbie” has already tallied $22.3 million on the domestic box office from Thursday night previews, on its solution to a minimum of $140 million for the total weekend. “Oppenheimer” snared $10.5 million Thursday, $60 million for the weekend.
Read more: ‘Barbenheimer’ gets off to a hot start with $32.8 million in combined Thursday sales
What’s more, the 2 movies together are more likely to generate greater than $200 million over the following few days and are expected to guide to the highest-grossing weekend of the 12 months thus far on the box office, with some analysts suggesting the weekend could top $300 million with additional sales from “Mission Unimaginable,” “Sound of Freedom” and “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.”
Disclosure: Comcast is the parent company of NBCUniversal and CNBC.
