Mattel has reportedly been in contact with Illumination over a potential animated Barbie movie, with the hopes to create a major animated franchise.
According to a recent report from the Puck newsletter, Mattel has met with Illumination CEO Chris Meledandri about a movie. The report doesn’t mention how far the talks are, but does note that Mattel hopes that Illumination could turn the world of Barbie into a mega-popular animated franchise, similar to what it did with 2023’s Super Mario Bros. movie.
What do we know about an animated Barbie movie?
The report also mentions that, although the live-action Barbie movie was made at Warner Bros. Discovery, Mattel still does hold the animation rights. The newsletter also references Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, the spearheads behind the hit 2023 film, being aware of the talks of an animated movie 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 Films’ Robbie Brenner along with Josey McNamara and Ynon Kreiz. During its theatrical run, it earned a worldwide gross of over $1.4 billion, making it the highest-grossing movie of 2023.
The film 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 more. It’s original soundtrack is currently nominated for 11 Grammy awards, including Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Song Written for Visual Media, with Ryan Gosling receiving his first Grammy nomination for “I’m Just Ken.”
(Source: Puck)
