Warner Bros. Discovery and Mattel have renewed their partnership following the success of the Barbie movie. Greta Gerwig’s movie has taken the world by storm. It feels like its just the start of something huge for the toy company as it tries its hand at various IP-based franchises. Warner Bros. Discovery Global Consumer Products announced the deal today. For 20 years, the two companies have worked together to brand toys based on things like DC Comics heroes or even Ted Lasso. You could probably expect a boost to the Barbie brand in the coming months as well. Here’s a statement from the toy manufacturer.
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“Mattel is incredibly proud of our two-decade long partnership with Warner Bros. to create products for fans featuring their favorite Warner Bros. characters and storylines,” said Nick Karamanos, senior vp of entertainment partnerships at Mattel. “We are thrilled that Mattel is a partner of choice for the largest and most successful entertainment companies in the world, and are excited to continue our partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery as we accelerate our businesses together.”
Margot Robbie Thought Barbie Would Be Huge
When Margot Robbie pitched Barbie to various studios, she made no mistake of pointing out the project’s potential. It feels like it may have even exceeded her expectations for what a big budget blockbuster could bring this year. While Barbie hasn’t hit a billion yet, Robbie told Collider that it was absolutely on the table in her meetings.
“I think my pitch in the green-light meeting was the studios have prospered so much when they’re brave enough to pair a big idea with a visionary director,” Robbie explained to the outlet. “And then I gave a series of examples like, “dinosaurs and [Steven] Spielberg,” that and that, that and that – pretty much naming anything that’s been incredible and made a ton of money for the studios over the years. And I was like, ‘And now you’ve got Barbie and Greta Gerwig.’ And I think I told them that it’d make a billion dollars, which maybe I was overselling, but we had a movie to make, okay?!”
Greta Gerwig Responds To Barbie’s Runaway Success
With the runaway success of Barbie immediately apparent to most observers, Greta Gerwig had to express her surprise. It feels like $100 million in an opening weekend is very hard to do now. And Barbie cleared that with ease on it’s second day of release. Gerwig told Uproxx that she’s still coming to grips with all these crazy numbers she’s been seeing.
“Honestly, I’m experiencing everything in real time and it is sort of mind-boggling. But it’s incredible because I’m also in New York City and yesterday I started jumping around to theaters and turning up the volume at different show times,” Gerwig said when asked about the film’s box office performance. “I was like, “I think we can add a DB. Let’s just keep going.’ But yeah, I mean, it’s amazing. Obviously, I’m here in new York City, but I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s everywhere.’ How fabulous and strange.”
What is Barbie About?
In Barbie, to live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you’re a Ken. From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig comes Barbie, which hit theaters on July 21st. Barbie stars Oscar-nominees Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, alongside America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Michael Cera, Ariana Greenblatt, Issa Rae, Rhea Perlman, and Will Ferrell. The film also stars Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey, Hari Nef, Alexandra Shipp, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Simu Liu, Ncuti Gatwa, Scott Evans, Jamie Demetriou, Connor Swindells, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya, Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Dua Lipa and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren. Gerwig directed Barbie from a screenplay by Gerwig & Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach, based on Barbie by Mattel.
Did you go see Barbie this weekend? Let us know down in the comments!
