Online backlash ensued after a media critic questioned whether the award season success of "Oppenheimer" meant Hollywood is returning to a "troubling" era oversaturated with "macho" dad movies.
The Christopher Nolan-directed epic about the physicist behind the atomic bomb was a critical and commercial hit, and it won five Golden Globe earlier this month, including Best Motion Picture-Drama and Best Director.
"Oppenheimer" earned 13 Academy Award nominations this week, making it one of the most-nominated movies in Oscars history.
On Tuesday, The Independent tweeted, "Does Oppenheimer's award season domination herald a troubling return to Hollywood's macho 'dad movie' days?"
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The post linked to an article by culture reporter Louis Chilton, who called the three-hour biopic quintessentially "one for the guys" and claimed it "represents everything the Oscars have been trying for years to move away from."
Rotten Tomatoes film critic Austin Burke said that while only being 23 days into 2024, "we already have the worst take of the year, let's go."
"This is a take…" podcast host and culture writer Phil Walsh similarly tweeted.
"What are you giblet heads talking about?" The Bulwark culture editor Sonny Bunch wrote.
Many users on social media took issue with the characterization of "Oppenheimer" as a "macho" movie.
"I was so jacked with testosterone after seeing #Oppenheimer that I punched the first dude I saw right [in] the kisser. He returned the favor. We hugged," television and film editor Ryan Krumm joked.
"Scientists thrilled to be called macho for the first time in their lives *gunshots*," writer Leah Marilla Thomas tweeted.
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Puck News box office columnist Scott Mendelson also weighed in on the film commentary, writing, "We were so close... *so close* to #Barbenheimer not being used as a culture war cudgel..."
Universal's World War II biopic was also the third highest-grossing movie of 2023, earning $951 million. It was part of a summer phenomenon called "Barbenheimer," which refers to theatergoers who opted to see both the deadly serious "Oppenheimer" and the more bubbly "Barbie" movie after both films were released in July.
The Independent did not return Fox News Digital's request for comment.
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Fox News' Ashlyn Messier contributed to this report.
