Fireworks exploding outside of a movie theater in Broward County prompted a shooting scare Sunday night, the end of a weekend where Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” drew massive crowds across the country.
The first 911 call reporting gunshots fired at the Cinemark in Davie at 15601 Sheridan St. came in shortly after 10:30 p.m., Davie Police Det. Peter Patton said Monday.
Officers cleared the scene shortly before midnight after finding that someone set off fireworks in front of the building. The theater closed early once police were finished, Patton said.
Officers did not find the person or people who ignited the fireworks.
Cinemark spokespersons did not return an email on Monday seeking information about the incident.
Video posted on Twitter shortly before midnight showed a dispersing crowd dotted with Barbie-pink outfits outside the theater with several ambulances and police cruisers parked outside with lights flashing. A Miami New Times reporter who was at the theater’s “Barbie” screening said in a Tweet just after midnight that Margot Robbie was “about to reclaim Barbieland” from the patriarchal Kens when the theater was evacuated.
The highly anticipated July 21 release of both “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” took over social media in recent weeks and has become a pop culture phenomenon known as “Barbenheimer,” with patrons planning double features in corresponding campy, iconic pink outfits for the aesthetic of Gerwig’s film and black clothes for Nolan’s.
The Associated Press reported that the event was the first time a movie opened to over $100 million and another opened to over $80 million in the same weekend. It is expected to become the fourth biggest box office weekend in history.