Mattel Discussing ‘Barbie’ Sequels; Company in Early Development of Multiple Other Live-Action Films, Including ‘Polley Pocket’ With Lena Dunham and Lily Collins
With Greta Gerwig’s Barbie splashing the box office in pink (the film has already surpassed the total domestic runs of Shazam! Fury of the Gods and The Flash combined), Mattel is now looking ahead. In a new interview with Variety, Robbie Brenner, head of Mattel Films, detailed their lineup of movies that are in some sort of development at the company. (For now, everything is on hold because of the writers’ and actors’ strike.)
Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz took over in 2018 with promises of bringing their vast portfolio to the big screen. There are 14 different projects in development, and that doesn’t even include potential (and possibly, inevitable) Barbie sequels. For now, that seems like a sure thing from the studio’s perspective (it is poised to become one of Warners’ biggest movies of all time worldwide), but not so much from the creative point of view — Margot Robbie has said before she’d be open to it, but Greta Gerwig is moving on to direct two Narnia pictures for Netflix. Besides that, the film opened itself up for so many potential spin-offs that the company could explore even if Gerwig or Robbie are busy (replicating the cultural phenomenon of the first one will be hard, though). Said Robbie Brenner, head of Mattel Films:
“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. It’s a very rich universe… It’s a very broad and very elastic brand, in terms of opportunities.
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.
“Successful movies lend themselves to more movies. Our ambition is to create film franchises.”
Outside of Barbie, the movie that has been in development the longest at the company is a Daniel Kaluuya-produced Barney movie, which Kreiz describes as an “A24-type surrealistic [film]”, not necessarily darker, but “unique”; she likened the idea to Spike Jonze’s Adaptation or Being John Malkovich. It’s not yet set up at any studio.
Mattel is partnering up with MGM to make a Polly Pocket movie, with Girls creator Lena Dunham attached to write and direct, and Lily Collins (Emily in Paris) set to star. According to Brenner, there is a “great” script already in place, adding:
“First of all, they are two of my favorite ladies ever. It’s been an amazing collaboration. Lena is so collaborative and rolls up her sleeves and really likes to roll around in notes and listen. She’s incredible. Lily is so smart and so specific and so productorial. It’s just been an incredible collaboration, so we are thrilled about it. Hopefully, we’ll be making that at some point in the future.”
Also at Warner Bros., Mattel is partnering with Bad Robot and JJ Abrams to make a Hot Wheels movie that was first reported over a year ago and that has seen little motion. In January, Deadline broke the news that Dalton Leeb & Nicholas Jacobson-Larson were aboard the vehicle as writers, but Variety is not listing them in the credits. Brenner said that the project will have “real characters that you can relate to, that are three-dimensional, that have emotional journeys.”
Additionally, news broke earlier this month that, after spending between $30M and $60M on developing a Masters of the Universe movie, Netflix departed the project. Kyle Allen was attached to play He-Man with Adam and Aaron Nee set to direct. Mattel is currently shopping the project, though the expensive price tag and its lack of connection to modern audiences will probably be the main obstacle for any studio to jump in.
In other stages of early development, Mattel is studying:
- A Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots film at Universal with Vin Diesel starring
- American Girl as a family comedy that will “help girls grow with confidence and develop character”
- Magic 8 Ball as a PG-13 thriller
- A Major Matt Mason projet with Tom Hanks starring and Akiva Goldsmith and Michael Chabon writing
- A UNO movie written by Marcy Kelly
- A Wishbone movie produced by Peter Farrelly at Universal
- Matchbox, written by David Coggeshall for Skydance
- Thomas and Friends, directed by Marc Forster
- View Master as an adventure film
- Christmas Balloon, written by Gabby Lugo and produced by Chris Lemos
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
