For Years to Come, This Will Be a ‘Barbie’ World and We’ll Just Live in It

Algeria is the latest country to ban or censor the pink-themed epic, “Barbie,” but as Warner Bros. biggest domestic box office hit ever, the blonde doll-turned-movie star isn’t getting shoved back in the toy box any time soon.“Barbie” is replicating the joy of playtime on the big screen to the tune of over $1 billion, leaving “The Dark Knight” in the dust. Although some foes are trying to spoil the fun, the studio and Mattel are capitalizing on their surprise hit, fueling its rise into a global phenomenon.Rumors are already swirling of a sequel that moviegoers are demanding. “According to unconfirmed reports,” HuffPost UK reported Saturday, “the crew who worked on ‘Barbie,’ which was mostly filmed at the Leavesden studios near London, have already been contacted to work on a follow-up.”“Barbie” has demonstrated that movies based on toys sell. Now, plans are in the works for a “Mattel Universe,” with 45 films in the works based on such childhood fixtures as Uno, Barney, Hot Wheels, and American Girl. Movie-related toys are selling out and trends like “Barbie” TikTok filters abound.“From the beginning, this was never about making a movie,” the CEO of Mattel, Ynon Kreiz, told Bloomberg last month. “The goal was to create a cultural event, a societal moment.” The film, he said, is enjoying “a very broad audience” including repeat viewers, as well as “very strong performance in the international market.” Mr. Kreiz looks for “the halo effect of the movie” to “recontextualize what people think of Barbie and the emotional connection between the Barbie fans and the franchise,” making the film an “important driver for growth in Barbie and the brand overall for years to come.”Mattel Television, which relies on animated shows, now plans to expand its meager live-action offerings, aiming to replicate the all-ages appeal of “Barbie.” Their moves show they’re seizing the opportunity to fill the void left by Disney, whose recent forays into left-wing politics is souring audiences.Disney’s live-action remake of “Snow White,” for example, won’t even hit theaters until next year, but is already earning raspberries for recasting the Seven Dwarves and for its star, Rachel Zegler, mocking the love story with Prince Charming at the center of the animated classic and the German fairytale on which its based.While there has been criticism from LGBTQ+ advocates who feel “Barbie” is too “heteronormative,” and from others who see it as anti-men, Mattel and Warner Bros. face nothing like the backlashes against Disney, which has prompted House of Mouse fans to look elsewhere for entertainment the whole family can enjoy.It helps “Barbie” backers that in the Middle East, objections have come from the other end of the debate, with Algeria banning the film, joining Lebanon and Kuwait, which said it “promulgates ideas and beliefs that are alien to Kuwaiti society and public order.”In Beirut, where Hezbollah holds sway, the culture minister, Mohammad Mortada, urged the interior ministry to “take all necessary measures” to ban “Barbie,” saying it “promotes homosexuality and transsexuality … supports rejecting a father’s guardianship, undermines and ridicules the role of the mother, and questions the necessity of marriage and having a family.”In Asia, Vietnam objected, too, airing “Barbie” but censoring a crude drawing that it felt endorsed Communist China’s expansionist territorial claims with a version of Beijing’s “nine-dash line” in the South China Sea. After airing the same complaint, the Philippines let the movie play unedited.Two Republicans — the congressman from Wisconsin, Michael Gallagher, and Senator Cruz of Texas — echoed those sentiments. Mr. Gallagher said the map “illustrates the pressure that Hollywood is under to please CCP censors” while a spokesman for Mr. Cruz told USA Today that Beijing seeks “to coerce American companies into pushing CCP propaganda.”This wide ideological range of objections to “Barbie” puts its filmmakers in a sweet spot, a Goldilocks zone where passions are neither too hot to dissuade consumers nor too cold to impair ticket sales. The result is a film with buzz that’s just right to make the marketing department’s job easier.It remains to be seen if Mattel and Warner Bros. can capture lightning in a toy box with their future films and TV shows. Judging by the passion of fans, though, we seem to be witnessing the dawn of an era when this is Barbie’s world, and we all just live in it.______Correction: “Barbie” is less than two hours long. An earlier version misstated the length of the film.

For Years to Come, This Will Be a ‘Barbie’ World and We’ll Just Live in It

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