CNN
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Barbie has had fairly the yr. As she celebrates her sixty fifth birthday this week, the newly minted film star has impressed a worldwide cultural motion and can make her grand debut on the Academy Awards this upcoming weekend with eight nominations.
“Barbie” – the film – was a smash success, hauling in over $1.4 billion globally to grow to be the largest film of 2023. However that was simply Mattel’s first entry into Hollywood, because the storied toy firm appears to show its giant portfolio of manufacturers, together with Sizzling Wheels, Fisher Worth and American Women, into content material and experiences past the mere bodily toys.
The “Barbie” movie (from Warner Bros. Photos, which shares the identical mum or dad firm as CNN) ignited a sizzling pink explosion that has enormously expanded the doll’s model world wide. However Mattel’s effort to strike gold once more comes at a troublesome time for franchises in Hollywood. As soon as-guaranteed franchises like Disney’s Marvel cinematic universe are underperforming on the field workplace and properties primarily based on toys, like Hasbro’s “Transformers” movies, should not raking within the billion-dollar ticket gross sales they as soon as have been.
Mattel has 13 collection on tv and throughout streaming and is at present creating greater than a dozen movies, together with “Sizzling Wheels” from J.J. Abrams; “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em” with star Vin Diesel; “Polly Pocket” from Lena Dunham, starring Lily Collins; “Barney,” which might be produced by Daniel Kaluuya; an animated “Bob the Builder” film from government producer Jennifer Lopez and Anthony Ramos; and “Main Matt Mason,” which can star Tom Hanks because the astronaut motion determine. Movies primarily based on the Magic 8 Ball and the UNO card recreation are additionally within the works.
“We predict of people that purchase our product not simply as shoppers, however as followers which have an emotional relationship with our manufacturers,” Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz tells CNN.
“That is very a lot about remodeling Mattel from being a toy manufacturing firm that was making objects to an mental property firm that’s managing franchises,” Kreiz provides.
Kreiz joined Mattel in 2018, after 4 consecutive years of slumping gross sales. For the reason that former studio government, who served as CEO of Fox Children Europe and Endemol, has taken the reins, the corporate has stabilized, ending 2023 with $5.44 billion in income, reflecting a slight enhance year-over-year and beating its competitor Hasbro. With toy gross sales down industry-wide as Individuals grapple with excessive costs and TikTok-viewing youngsters change their tastes, Kreiz is guiding Mattel to seek out new income streams that embrace films, TV reveals, digital gaming, a nationwide Barbie touring expertise and even a Mattel theme park that can open later this yr in Arizona.
Mattel’s CEO hinted that the corporate envisions a day during which it may make more cash off of flicks than toys.
“We’ve got a really distinctive alternative to broaden exterior of the toy aisle into enterprise verticals that in some instances, are larger than the toy {industry},” Kreiz says.
Ever since Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie’s “Barbie” was introduced, Mattel maintained that it was not making a film to promote toys. However the reality of the matter is, Barbie gross sales skyrocketed.
Pushed largely by advantages related to the “Barbie” film, Mattel completed final yr robust with 24% fourth-quarter development. In 2022, Mattel’s share of the $7.6 billion dolls class was 26%, per Circana. As of November 2023 – months after the movie’s launch – the corporate’s share of dolls jumped to 33%.
“We at all times stated that we’re specializing in high quality experiences to not promote. It was not finished to promote toys, however we at all times knew that if we do a great job and folks watch our content material, good issues will occur and we may also promote quite a lot of toys,” Kreiz says.
Earlier than the “Barbie” film was launched, the Barbie model already had a 99% fee of worldwide model consciousness, promoting greater than 100 dolls each single minute, in line with Mattel. For the previous two years, Barbie has ranked because the No. 1 doll property and No. 2 toy property on this planet, behind solely Pokémon, in line with Circana. However that model consciousness was not at all times constructive.
All through the years, Mattel has confronted intense criticism for an absence of variety of their Barbie dolls. During the last decade particularly, the corporate has tried to alter that. At the moment, Barbie has highlighted over 250 careers (by her various outfits) and prior to now 9 years has launched greater than 175 appears with new pores and skin tones, eye colours, hair textures, physique sorts and disabilities.
The gathering options Barbie dolls with wheelchairs, listening to aids, Down syndrome and inclusive physique sorts that launched in 2016 like curvy, tall and petite.
“At the moment, Barbie is probably the most numerous doll line on this planet,” says Lisa McKnight, Mattel’s government vice chairman and chief model officer. “What we discovered 10 years in the past was Barbie was not connecting with tradition. She was a one-dimensional view of magnificence. She was not seen as a constructive function mannequin, so we’ve taken nice strides to make her extra inspiring.”
Barbie has really been within the content material enterprise for over 20 years, launching her first animated film on VHS in 2001, “Barbie within the Nutcracker.” Throughout films and collection, Barbie has 45 titles within the youngsters and household area. However it wasn’t till 2023 that the function movie lastly acquired off the bottom.
Previous to Robbie partnering with Mattel to supply the film by her manufacturing firm and hand-picking Gerwig to direct, many makes an attempt have been made at a “Barbie” film – first in 2009 when Common developed the property, after which in 2014 when Sony got here in to adapt a Barbie film, initially starring Amy Schumer after which Anne Hathaway.
Apparently, it was well worth the wait. Following the film’s launch, Barbie is now a three-time Grammy winner (because of the soundtrack) and has nabbed greater than 450 {industry} nominations,together with finest image on the Oscars. Mattel obtained a $150 million income increase from the movie, together with direct film participation, movie-related toy gross sales and client merchandise, stemming from 165 model partnerships that had every thing from Crocs to Chilly Stone ice cream sundaes painted pink. Ever because the first on-set paparazzi photographs of Robbie emerged in mid-2022 , searches for pink clothes jumped 416%, with #Barbiecore changing into the most viral fashion trend of 2023.
“We reignited this fanbase with individuals of all generations,” McKnight says.
Mattel Movies, which is headed by Oscar-nominated producer Robbie Brenner, faces quite a lot of strain to stay as much as “Barbie” with its second go-around.
“It’s apparent that not each film might be one other ‘Barbie’ film, however that’s okay,” Kreiz says.
In an age of reboots, spinoffs and sequels, nostalgia sells. However there may be loads of criticism surrounding the shortage of unique concepts in Hollywood.
Kreiz says that simply because Mattel’s films might be primarily based on IP doesn’t imply they’re not new concepts. The manager says that partnering with one of the best artistic expertise ensures unique storytelling, highlighting the “genius” of Gerwig, Robbie and Mark Ronson, who produced “Barbie’s” soundtrack. That’s why Mattel doesn’t have an general cope with any explicit studio or streaming service; the corporate needs flexibility.
On the subject of originality, one of many buzziest movies on Mattel’s growth slate is a movie primarily based on Barney, the purple dinosaur. Only a few particulars have been unveiled, apart from its producer, Oscar-winning actor Daniel Kaluuya, and being described as “surrealistic.”
“We haven’t introduced the main points of that undertaking, however it’s going to be very unique and really thrilling,” Kreiz says.
When requested about the opportunity of an R-rated movie at Mattel, Kreiz says, “I wouldn’t rule out completely different eventualities. However as an organization, we’re heading in the direction of household leisure, so I’d anticipate films for probably the most half, if not all instances, to be PG 13.”
Mattel is hoping to seek out profitable, family-friendly movie franchises amongst their portfolio, but a “Barbie” sequel just isn’t in growth – but.
“It’s too early to speak about one other film associated to ‘Barbie,’” he says. Mattel is hoping to achieve a stage the place the movie division is rolling out “between one and two films a yr,” the CEO says.
“It’s straightforward to have a look at the massive manufacturers and anticipate one thing massive to occur there,” Kreiz says. “However what we’ve seen earlier than is that success can come from a small model that connects with the viewers and turns into an enormous hit in a multibillion-dollar franchise.”