[first Barbie doll - 1959 - created by Ruth Handler]
Mattel toys and the folks over at Sony are rocketing towards bringing the 55 year old BARBIEverse to the big screen in a live action film.
The studio has closed a partnership with Mattel and Parkes+MacDonald/Image Nation on a live-action comedy built around Barbie, the top-selling fashion doll. This is no development deal, it’s all moving very quickly.
…says Deadline HERE, in an article which goes on to reveal that premise of the new picture…
…allows the character Barbie to use her personal and professional skills to step into the lives of others and improve them, almost like a modern-day Mary Poppins. That storyline allows for the discovery of a young actress to play the title character, and young cast to play Ken and Barbie’s best friend, putting stars around them that can change in subsequent movies.
Mattel and Sony have previously worked together on a variety of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE reboots - reboots which, themselves, seem to get rebooted before the films are even made.
In theory…given the heat recently generated by the LEGO MOVIE …and an understandable desire to more fully mine that film’s appeal and sensibilities…this BARBIE picture will shake out more efficiently. A script is already underway (by RIO 2 and SEX AND THE CITY’s Jenny Bicks) and producers are already in place (Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald - the MEN IN BLACK films, GLADIATOR, DEEP IMPACT). With that pedigree, critical mass may well have already been achieved.
Word is The Powers That Be want to begin production by year’s end.
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Glen Oliver
"Merrick"
