Get your rollerblades ready, we’re heading back into Barbie Land!
Following the massive success of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (read our review here), Warner Bros and Mattel are set on a sequel and potentially, an entire cinematic universe.
Speaking to Variety, Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz shared the toy brand’s IP strategy and their hopes to open up an entire world of Barbie sequels.
“Barbie, as a brand, has many different iterations. The product lines of Barbie is a very broad brand. In addition to the main Barbie figure, she has family, she has a lot of elements around in her universe,” Kreiz told Variety. “It’s a very rich universe… It’s a very broad and very elastic brand, in terms of opportunities,” said Kreiz.
“At the outset, we’re not saying, ‘Okay, let’s think already about movie two and three.’ Let’s get the first one right and make that a success. And if you do that, opportunities open up very quickly, once you establish the first movie as a successful representation of a franchise on the big screen.”
He later added, “Successful movies lend themselves to more movies. Our ambition is to create film franchises.”
These film franchises include Mattel’s other toy lines and franchises. Currently in Mattel’s plans include Barney, a surrealist movie produced by Daniel Kaluuya; Polly Pocket starring Lily Collins and directed by Lena Dunham; a grounded and gritty Hot Wheels movie from producer JJ Abrams, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots starring Vin Diesel; family comedy American Gril based on the world of dolls that will help girls grow confidence and develop character and a thriller on Magic 8 Ball.
Mattel also wants to create a Masters of the Universe mega-franchise and bring their astronaut action figure from the 1960s to life via Tom Hanks in Major Matt Mason. Card game UNO is being turned into a movie and a new family-friendly adventure comedy, Wishbone, is also in the works at Universal.
Wrapping up the rest of Mattel’s plans are the action movie Matchbox, a fantasy film based on Thomas & Friends, an adventure film based on the classic View Master toy and Christmas Balloon, a movie based on a true story of when Mattel donated toys to help make a young girl’s dream come true after she tied her Christmas list to a balloon.
As of now, Gerwig has no plans for a Barbie sequel and is tied to direct Chronicles of Narnia for Netflix. It is unclear if stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling will reprise their roles as Barbie and Ken too. If Mattel and Warner Bros. are in search of a Ken, Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy has already expressed interest, following the cultural phenomenon that is Barbenheimer.
Don’t judge a book by its cover, for behind all this makeup, is a geek just like you. To simply put it, superheroes, Star Wars, Harry Potter and all things gore and creepy makes this girly girl swoon.
Natalie
