It’s no secret that Warner Bros’ hand in the Barbie movie provides them with the biggest box office success of the year. It’s already breaking records, pulling in over $300 million in its opening weekend, the biggest for a female director (in Greta Gerwig) ever. And it’s already garnering Oscar buzz. It went head-to-head with previous Warner Bros right-hand-director Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer and won decisively .

People were calling Barbenheimer the biggest day for cinema since Christopher Nolan released The Dark Knight and Phyllida Lloyd opened Mamma Mia! on the same day in 2008. However, the magnitude of power both Barbie and Oppenheimer held on cinema-goers this weekend far outpaced that. And yet, you can’t help but notice a few key points Warner Bros is already having as a studio this year.

With the failing world of DC Comics unable to compete with Disney’s Marvel, Warner Bros. faced major controversy by continuing production and promotion of The Flash. After star Ezra Miller was openly accused of grooming, kidnapping, delivering confusing open messages to the Ku Klux Klan, and being charged with disorderly conduct and harassment (to name only a few), Warner Bros. made the curious decision – keep them in the film entirely.

The film (in simpler terms) flopped. Only bringing in $268 million through the box office, The Flash was ill-attended and ill-received. But that wasn’t all the production company faced this year.

Christopher Nolan was Warner Bros. Golden Boy from 2002-2020 until he left and publicly condemned their hybrid release model. In response to the breakup, Warner Bros. put their top-budgeted film (with insane marketing) up against his 3-hour-long biopic that was only meant to be viewed in IMAX theaters. In other words, Nolan had no chance of winning.

And while Barbie is one of the best films I’ve seen in forever, you can’t help but sense that there’s some deep drama underneath its glossy surface.