Mattel's powerhouse product steps up
Not content with being one of the most iconic toys on the planet with a range of jobs, outfits and worlds, plus a series of animated adventures, Mattel’s Barbie has her sights set on movie stardom. Sony has put together a fast-track deal that could see production starting on a Barbie movie before the year breathes its last.
Clearly hoping for a franchise to rival other toy-based megaliths like Transformers, Sony jumped at the chance to secure the rights after Mattel decided to finally open up a pitch process for a variety of producers, which led to a deal with Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald. They brought in writer Jenny Bicks to cook up a contemporary tale that casts the title character as a sort of modern day Mary Poppins, who swoops into peoples’ lives and uses her personal and professional skills to make them better. The hope is to find a young cast to play Barbie, Ken and others and find bigger names to surround them.
With He-Man from the new version of Masters Of The Universe still making his way slowly through development, all involved want Barbie to hit screens at lot more swiftly. It’s here we’d make some joke about “if Barbie can get a movie gig, what’s to stop this stress ball we just found on our desk making a 17-picture deal at Universal?” but with the recent announcements about It’s A Small World and Peeps, nothing is safe to crack wise about. Nothing.
from Empire News
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