Roseville Cinema owner sticks by decision not to screen Barbie box office phenomenon

Barbie mania has well and truly taken over Australia – but there’s one cinema in Sydney that’s sticking by its decision to give pink the flick. Read why.

Not all Sydney cinemas have jumped on board the Barbie bandwagon. Photo: Warner Bros Pictures/Associated Press.

Barbie mania has well and truly taken over Sydney – but there’s one cinema that’s given pink the flick.

Emma Addario – the owner of Roseville Cinema – insists she has no regrets after choosing not to screen the box-office phenomenon at the family-run theatre on the north shore.

It is believed the picturehouse is one of only two cinemas in Sydney not currently screening the film which has already amassed $70.2 million at the Aussie box office – making it the seventh highest grossing film ever to be released Down Under.

A quick search of other cinemas show all mainstream theatres have the film booked solid while many local art house cinemas have also jumped on the Barbie bandwagon including the Orpheum Cinema in Cremorne, The Ritz in Randwick and The Regent in Richmond.

The only other exception is Palace Cinemas Chauvel in Paddington which is instead screening four foreign films including Spanish family drama Alcarràs.

Roseville cinema owner Emma Addario.

Despite Barbie’s global success, Ms Addario said there’s no sense of FOMO among staff about the decision to not screen the Margot Robbie-led and produced film.

“It’s nothing against Barbie – I’ve seen the film myself and actually quite enjoyed it but we didn't think it was something our patrons would want to see,” she said.

“We tend to have a more mature crowd and we didn’t think Barbie quite fitted the mould.

Roseville Cinema is one of a handful of independent cinemas still operating in Sydney.

“Had we screened it, we may have gotten audiences we don't normally get but I still don't think our regular patrons would want to see it.

“We’re also a small cinema and only have two screens and it’s very difficult to fit our product in so we have to be selective.”

Roseville Cinemas is not completely off the ‘Barbenheimer’ bandwagon – a term given to the internet phenomena that preceded the simultaneous cinema release of Barbie and fellow blockbuster film Oppenheimer.

Inside the family-run Roseville Cinema.

Roseville Cinema has chosen to screen Oppenheimer and the film has already become the most successful film to be shown at the cinema this year.

“We’ve had a few people come in to see Oppenheimer asking if we’re showing Barbie as well and wanting to do the double back-to-back screenings,” she said.

“Some people have been surprised we’re not showing Barbie. We’ve had a few phone calls from people wanting to see it as well.

“Generally we don’t screen a lot of mainstream films such as Barbie and while Oppenheimer is still mainstream, it does cross over into both avenues.”

The lack of love for Barbie has been noted by residents with some taking to social media saying: “I think this might be the only English language theatre in the entire world that took a hard pass on screening the Barbie movie”

Barbie has grossed more than $1.18 billion at the global box office since its debut more than three weeks ago.

The film has also made headlines for being banned in countries including Algeria due to the movie’s “social values’’. The ban was reportedly due to “damaging morals” contained in the film.