With “Barbie” having scored the biggest box-office opening of the year so far, it comes as no surprise that its toy company manufacturer Mattel is already looking to further film adaptations of its products.
In fact, fourteen works are already in active development. That’s not including a potential “Barbie” sequel, which director Greta Gerwig made clear this week she’s not thinking about at this time, telling The New York Times: “at this moment, it [the first film] is all I’ve got.”
Now Variety has done a new feature piece talking with Mattel executives, including CEO Ynon Kreiz and Oscar-nominated producer Robbie Brenner who runs the Mattel Films division, about where things stand with those other projects.
First up, the “Barney” movie is being compared to Spike Jonze’s “Being John Malkovich” and “Adaptation” as it’s “going to be unique”. This fits with previous descriptions of the Daniel Kaluuya-produced movie about the iconic purple dinosaur being “surrealistic” and an “A24-type”. Brenner adds it’ll be: “more adult and have adult themes — and sort of be a little bit off-kilter.”
“Emily In Paris” star Lily Collins will play the micro-doll “Polly Pocket” in a family comedy written and directed by “Girls” creator Lena Dunham. A script is done with the pair of talents having already collaborated on it.
The J.J. Abrams-produced “grounded and gritty” adaptation of the top-selling toy car franchise “Hot Wheels” will, according to Brenner, boast: “real characters that you can relate to, that are three-dimensional, that have emotional journeys.” It’s not clear how far along that is.
Still on the early development phases with no scripts yet are the battling robots tabletop game “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots” starring Vin Diesel, an “American Girl” family comedy, the Tom Hanks-led “Major Matt Mason” film, the Marc Forster-directed “Thomas & Friends,” and movies based on “Magic 8 Ball,” “UNO,” “Wishbone,” “Matchbox” and “View Master”. There’s also the long-gestating and troubled “Masters of the Universe” adaptation, and a true story tale feature titled “Christmas Balloon”.
