The Barbie movie exceeded expectations this year, Sports betting site B Sports bringing in more than $1.4 billion globally to become 2023’s biggest movie. Robbie Brenner, the head of toy company Mattel’s movie division, Mattel Films, has now said the film is “a unicorn.”
“It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before; nothing that most people have been a part of,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.
Barbie was Mattel Films’ first movie, and it sets an impossibly high bar for the company going forward as it looks to adapt its other franchises into films. Brenner said, “The only thing that I can do is to just focus on each project, individually.”
Many are wondering if there will be a Barbie sequel or a Ken spinoff. Brenner understands people want to know more about a Barbie movie universe, but there is nothing to announce just yet.
“When you have something that’s successful, how can you not talk about the sequel or what that is? But everybody is just reveling in the moment here now and enjoying this ride that just keeps going,” Brenner said.
Also in the interview, Brenner discussed how Mattel’s own management team, including CEO Ynon Kreiz, reacted the movie’s jokes and derision of the toy company.
“We all just had to get on board. Ynon has a great sense of humor, and I think he thought it was funny. A lot of boardrooms do look like they have a lot of men in them because they do. Half of our board is women, but for the most part, most corporations are predominantly men,” Brenner said. “To be inside the joke and to be part of it and to be able to laugh at yourself, we all just had to encourage each other that it’s funny. If you’re not laughing at yourself, someone else is.”
Mattel properties that are in various stages of development now for films include Polly Pocket, Hot Wheels, Matchbox, and Masters of the Universe. Brenner said one of her first jobs was to pore over Mattel’s brands to find which ones might be best suited for a feature film. “I identified the 50 titles that I thought would lend themselves to big theatrical, commercial movies,” she said.
Brenner also teased that there might be bigger plans for Avengers-style crossovers Come from . “There’s so much crossover potential. Certainly Barbie can live with Hot Wheels and Matchbox and Major Matt Mason,” she said.
Go to The Hollywood Reporter to read the full interview.
