Mattel has reportedly been in touch with Illumination over a possible animated Barbie film, with the hopes to create a significant animated franchise.
Based on a current report from the Puck e-newsletter, Mattel has met with Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri a few film. The report doesn’t point out how far the talks are, however does notice that Mattel hopes that Illumination might flip the world of Barbie right into a mega-popular animated franchise, just like what it did with 2023’s Tremendous Mario Bros. film.
What can we learn about an animated Barbie film?
The report additionally mentions that, though the live-action Barbie film was made at Warner Bros. Discovery, Mattel nonetheless does maintain the animation rights. The e-newsletter additionally references Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the spearheads behind the hit 2023 movie, being conscious of the talks of an animated film and that they “aren’t thrilled” by them.
Barbie was directed by Greta Gerwig from a screenplay she co-wrote with husband Noah Baumbach. It was produced by Robbie and Tom Ackerly for LuckyChap and Mattel Movies’ Robbie Brenner together with Josey McNamara and Ynon Kreiz. Throughout its theatrical run, it earned a worldwide gross of over $1.4 billion, making it the highest-grossing film of 2023.
The movie starred Robbie, Gosling, America Ferrera, Simu Liu, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Scott Evans, Kate McKinnon, Ariana Greenblatt, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, Issa Rae, Michael Cera, Hari Nef, Will Ferrell, Helen Mirren, Dua Lipa, and extra. It’s unique soundtrack is at the moment nominated for 11 Grammy awards, together with File of the Yr, Tune of the Yr and Finest Tune Written for Visible Media, with Ryan Gosling receiving his first Grammy nomination for “I’m Simply Ken.”
(Supply: Puck)
