People Are Going to ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ Just To See the ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ Trailers

Last night, I went to a screening of Avatar: The Way of Water that didn’t have previews, and while they probably thought that was a good thing, they apparently didn’t know that several of us were really there to see Barbie and Oppenheimer on the big screen. So the minute the screening ended, my friend and I booked tickets to another screening of Avatar and ran upstairs to do what the good lord intended: Watch the Oppenheimer trailer in IMAX.

There was still no Barbie trailer and I was furious, but we’ve since been gifted with the teaser, so I can’t stay that mad. Still, the struggle to see the trailers for Barbie and Oppenheimer—which are both being released on July 21—has been real. Running to the IMAX to see the trailer for Christopher Nolan’s film did make it feel like I was part of some secret mission, which my friend coined the “Oppenheimer Heist” as we left shortly after the trailer:

And it seems to have become the new Twitter trend: Get a ticket to see Avatar: The Way of Water and leave right after the trailers.

It’s a simple thing. You just go into the theater and leave before the movie starts. You don’t have to do anything else. If you’re me, you might need to figure out where to leave the 3D glasses they gave you, but that’s a personal problem.

The overwhelming need to see these trailers

Look, as someone who did this, it was worth it. I absolutely need to see the Oppenheimer trailer as many times as physically possible because I am a self-named “Nolan bro.” Pair that with a potential look at Barbie and whatever the Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning: Part One sneak peek was (Tom Cruise was definitely trying to die), and it was worth the extra 20 minutes I spent in the theater.

And sometimes, it’s hard to figure out which screening has the teasers for Barbie and Oppenheimer. Some don’t have any, some have one, others have both. It’s really a game of chance.

But when it does happen and you get a sneak peak of what your life will be like on July 21 2023? Perfection.

It was such a moment in time online, with so many of us frantically trying to see any sort of footage from these trailers to make our lives better. And we were right for it. Both Oppenheimer and Barbie look incredible, just as we thought they would.

So, whether or not you’re ready to embrace it, you might need to go into a screening of Avatar: The Way of Water to see the Oppenheimer trailer, and if you’re feeling really brave, see it in IMAX so you can witness Tom Cruise riding off a ramp and jumping off a cliff four times to promote his new Mission Impossible movie.

(featured image: Warner Bros. / Universal Pictures)