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NY Post
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15 Aug 2023


NextImg:Hollywood Is Learning The “Wrong Lesson” From ‘Barbie,’ According to Randall Park 

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A toy cinematic universe is not the correct response to the blockbuster success of this summer’s Barbie, according to actor Randall Park

Although it’s only been out for less than a month, the Greta Gerwig-helmed fantasy musical comedy has already raked in over a billion dollars worldwide and is considered to be an early Oscar contender. With a high-wattage ensemble both in front of and behind the camera, and a cast that includes Margot Robbie as the titular doll, alongside Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, and Issa Rae, Barbie has dominated the cultural conversation since the project was announced with Robbie attached to produce and star in 2018.

It’s no surprise that industry executives are quickly looking to capitalize on the critical and commercial success of the film, which is widely considered to have helped reinvigorate the moviegoing experience and is one of the year’s most successful films. 

But not everyone thinks that developing toy-movie franchises is the right move in the wake of Barbie. 

Sitting down with Rolling Stone, Park, whose indie directorial debut Shortcomings hit theaters earlier this month, expressed his frustrations with how the industry is handling the success: “Barbie is this massive blockbuster, and the idea is: Make more movies about toys! No. Make more movies by and about women!”

Park and the interviewer went on to discuss how it was particularly the work of Gerwig and Robbie that made Barbie the great success it is.

Yet, Mattel seems milking all they can out of their products — in fact, over a dozen Mattel properties are now in the works for potential film projects and franchises, including Hot Wheels, American Girl and Barney. A Lena Dunham-directed Polly Pocket starring Lily Collins is currently in development. 

Photo: Everett Collection

Diving further into the Barbie franchise also seems to be a priority for the company. Speaking with Variety, Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz shared that “Barbie, as a brand, has many different iterations. The product lines of Barbie is a very broad brand,” adding, “It’s a very rich universe… It’s a very broad and very elastic brand, in terms of opportunities.”

No official sequel to Barbie has been announced, and Gerwig has already shared with The New York Times she has no plans to helm another Barbie film, but it will be interesting to see if any of these other properties come to light, or if they can recreate the same critical and commercial success that Barbie had