Max Celebrates Barbie Debut With Pink Overhaul on Platform

Barbie is finally streaming on Max and its bringing a pretty substantial change along with it. Over on the actual Max app and the streaming site, the company's logo is bright Barbie pink and done in the same font. As an added bonus, dragging your cursor over the site's page leaves behind a trail of pink and white sparkles as well. People have been waiting for Barbie to be streaming for a long time now. With the big weekend finally here, people who hadn't been out to see Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken are finally getting to see the movie. (That's right, all four of them! Most everyone else is down for a re-watch.)

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has been teasing this streaming release for months. After Barbie racked up more than $1 billion at the box office, the people who didn't make the trek to the theater wondered when they would get their shot. It turns out, basically almost Christmas. And, the head man at the company wanted it that way. "We really believe in the motion picture window — let it play out … go into PVOD, take it through the windows that have worked forever [in the business]," Zaslav previously said during an investor call. "When it goes on Max, it will have a good impact in the fall."

Barbie Closes Out A Dominant 2023

One of the clear top stories of 2023 is the dominance of Barbie and director Greta Gerwig has a lot to do with that. Yes, the Mattel and Warner Bros. Discovery film is a massive IP-project, but the vision for what Barbie became flowed out of the filmmaker's point of view. During the Deadline Contenders panel for Barbie this fall, Margot Robbie stepped up to laud the job that Gerwig did on the film. She argues the game has been changed permanently from the bulletproof success of this project.

"I definitely didn't want to try and make a puff piece Barbie. I wanted us to run at the scary things as much as we celebrated the wonderful things," Robbie, who also executive produced the film, said during the panel. "That's exactly why I went after Greta, because I was like, 'She would do that.'"

"I'll just jump in and say what Greta is too humble to say," Robbie continued when Gerwig tried to downplay the praise. "She has literally changed the game. From now on, it's different because of what she's done. It's massive. And someone is going to come forward with another original idea that requires a big budget, and there's going to be a female lead, and they're going to point to Barbie and say, 'But that made money.' Everyone's gonna go, 'Oh, right we're gonna have to green light this.' And that's amazing."

So, What Happens In Barbie?

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 hits 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 notice the change to Max this weekend? Let us know down in the comments!