When it comes to the road to blockbuster stardom, some projects are intentional, some happen instantly, while others go through a long development hell. That’s exactly what happens when you focus on a promising billion-dollar stock.
In the case of Mattel’s Barbie, it was arguably a 14-year journey that began at Universal. It stands to reason that the toy company would take strict precautions in including its 64-year-old doll, which reportedly generates annual sales of $3 billion. Because what was meant to be “America’s Sweetheart” has been tossed around, evolving with the changing times, with her stereotypes and outfits shifting from prom queen to flight attendant to Mad Men secretary to astronaut. A doll that was iconic in the 1970s era of pin-ups like Loni Anderson and Farrah Fawcett drew backlash for being an inappropriate role model for young girls with her high heels and thin build. This is despite the fact that Mattel has pushed the female empowerment aspects of Barbie over time.
How can this be made into a five-square film?
At the end of the day, Mattel let it all loose and poked fun at all the troubles with Barbie — and owned her — thanks to star producer Margot Robbie and the picture’s director and co-writer, Greta Gerwig. It worked: it grossed $162 million domestically and $356 million worldwide. For Robbie, Gerwig and co-star Ryan Gosling, Barbie made a record start at the box office.
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As a source close to the production says, “If Barbie was made in the 1980s, it would be subject to patriarchy.” Leave it to Little Women and Ladybird director Gerwig to free Barbie in what marks the best US debut film by a woman filmmaker ever.
Barbie first landed at Universal in 2009 alongside The Greatest Showman producer Laurence Mark. Studios have always been gaga for the lady as she knew she would appeal to both young girls and grandmothers. However, the real excitement for the doll’s feature adaptation came when it arrived at Sony in April 2014.
Mattel held a beauty pageant for the rights, which the studio, then run by Amy Pascal, and produced by Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald, along with Sex and the City writer Jenny Bicks, won. The intention at the time was to get the film into production by the end of the year. Sony looked back on the success Warner Bros. had with The Lego Movie, which spanned children and 20-somethings and ultimately grossed nearly half a billion dollars worldwide. Bicks, Parkes and MacDonald reported that the project focused on Barbie’s use of her personal and professional skills to enter and improve the lives of others, much like a modern-day Mary Poppins. The film’s cost would be manageable by casting young, fresh actresses who would grow into the franchise much like Harry Potter and the Hunger Games were born. In March 2015, Academy Award-winning Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody rewrote Barbie. By December 2015, Sony had launched another beauty pageant for itself, which featured three designs by Lindsey Beer, Bert Royal, and Hilary Winston. A June 2017 release was eyed.
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In December 2016, stand-up comedian and Trainwrecked actress and screenwriter Amy Schumer committed to a PG version for release in summer 2018, with Winston’s script and a rewrite by Schumer and her sister Kim Caramele.
Looking back, this Barbie’s imagination at Sony sounds a lot like what we saw this weekend. Read a fish-out-of-water story reminiscent of Splash and Big, where Barbie gets kicked out of Barbieland because she’s not perfect enough, is a bit eccentric and doesn’t quite fit the mold. She then embarks on an adventure in the real world, and when she returns to Barbieland to save it, she has come to realize that perfection comes from within, not from without, and that the key to happiness is believing in yourself, free from the obligation to hold yourself to an unattainable standard of perfection. Mattel is said to have agreed to this attitude at the time. However, in March 2017, Schumer said goodbye to Barbie — which she says was initially due to “scheduling conflicts.” But in a June interview on Bravo’s Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, she admitted they were “creative differences.” Schumer isn’t sour grapes, recently celebrating Barbenheimer on social media with a joke: “I really enjoyed Barbie and Oppenheimer, but I think I should have played Emily Blunts.” [Oppenheimer] Roll… Make Hollywood Better.”
This summer, Anne Hathaway stepped in with a touch-up by Oceans Eight writer Olivia Milch; The imagination of Barbie’s exodus from Barbieland is reportedly still the sticking point.
Barbie as the new superheroine
In October 2018, my jaw dropped when the news broke that Margot Robbie and her LuckyChap were targeting Barbie and it had landed at Warners. The headlines came a month after Oscar-nominated Dallas Buyers Club producer Robbie Brenner took charge of Mattel’s new film division. What happened? Essentially, the rights to Barbie at Sony lapsed, and Mattel’s new CEO and chairman, Ynon Kreiz, wanted her to help build an IP-based entertainment company. According to sources, making a good film was a priority for Kreiz over selling dolls. Ultimately, the film would strengthen the Mattel brand. We were told that Robbie was passionate about playing and producing Barbie and reached out to Mattel. However, she didn’t see the project as just another breakout film for girls, but rather as a five-square film that could attract anyone. If a Marvel superhero movie could be made for the masses, why not make one with a female lead? Robbie’s vision convinced Mattel. At PostTrak exits, Barbie attracted 68% female audience, 32% male audience, and 26% of viewers who went to the movies with a date or their partner.
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At the time Robbie fell in love, there were rumors that Wonder Woman filmmaker Patty Jenkins was getting on her nerves. At Sundance 2019, we asked her about her interest in Barbie: While there were no serious talks, there were some, but her busy schedule didn’t allow for any engagement.
Toby Emmerich and Courtenay Valenti courtesy
Since LuckyChap had a first-look deal at Warners, Barbie jumped in her sports car and sped from Culver City to the Burbank parking lot. Warner Bros. film executive at the time, Toby Emmerich, and President of Production and Development, Courtenay Valenti, immediately approved the first package. With Barbie reaching $800 billion to $1 billion worldwide, it’s important to give credit where it’s due, and that’s to the former production executives who served at the company.
Warner Bros. marketing architect Josh Goldstine and his team can also do well for the “Atta Boys” and “Atta Girls” by launching a hysterical trailer that turned into a social media meme frenzy, while domestic sales executive Jeff Goldstein (who is celebrating his 45th anniversary at Warner Bros. today) and international sales executive Andrew Cripps settle into a bountiful global day-and-date weekend in late July decided that was well removed from other family films in a crowded summer.
RELATED: ‘Barbie’ review: Greta Gerwig strikes the balance between comedy, commentary and camp
Robbie and Kreiz also reportedly had the same idea that it would be an unconventional Barbie movie that wasn’t meant to be a doll promotion, but a meta of sorts. For Robbie, there was no one else directing and writing this screenplay than filmmaker Greta Gerwig of Ladybird and Little Women.
Gerwig, we are told, was initially tired of directing and just wanted to write. Their terms were that their partner, Noah Baumbach, would co-write and they would not do a treatment, preferring to submit a script and take it to the studio from there. The duo got together in July 2019. Your approach should play on two levels, not only for children, but also sophisticated and subversive. Not to mention that it would always hysterically address some of society’s issues with Barbie, such as her status as a fashion icon and the backlash against women’s rights. Warner Bros. marketing nailed the trailer’s tagline: “If you love Barbie, if you hate Barbie, this movie is for you.”
We’re told that although the build was similar to the Sony designs, Gerwig and Baumbach were never privy to these versions and started all over again. After Gerwig finished the script, LuckyChap, Mattel and Warners brought the three-time Oscar nominee in to direct. According to Deadline, the first pass from Gerwig and Baumbach was not that far from the final script.
RELATED: Greta Gerwig on why she dismissed the idea of scrapping the ‘Barbie’ scene starring Margot Robbie and the older woman on the bench
There was only one Ken for everyone and that was Ryan Gosling. He initially passed, but it wasn’t about the money, it was more because the Drive actor was concerned about how pushy the cast was. He relented after producers and executives aggressively pushed him, saying the film could not be made without him.
With a reported net cost of production of $128 million, there was no comparison to justify Barbie’s income statement for Warner Bros. They broke new ground, but that’s the story of a million box office hits. While Flash is in trouble over its tabloid star Ezra Miller, we hear Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav declare at a company meeting “Codename: Barbie Summer” and that all departments are working flat out to work synergistically to promote the Tentpole, including an HGTV and Food Network Barbie-themed episode.
RELATED: Quentin Tarantino endorses Barbenheimer’s double feature film and was spotted at the cinema watching ‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer.’
Oppenheimer, targeting former Warner Bros. film veteran Christopher Nolan and Tenet and Inception, was far from a humiliation for the studio, but rather something it was already observing back in 2008, when WB opened its film The Dark Knight: it was possible for a five-square film to share the marquee with a strong female title, then still Uni’s Mamma Mia! While Dark Knight would go for $158.4 million domestically and be a giant at $584.9 million domestically and $1 billion worldwide, Mamma Mia! was a destination for women this summer, hitting $27.7 million for the first time, reaching $144.1 million domestically and over $609 million worldwide.
The Barbenheimers, girl versus boy, well this is just a reverse case of lagniappe, with consumers giving the studio’s marketing executives more than they bargained for; The promotion of two films adapted to the spirit of the times and developed a life of their own. Never before have there been two films that have grossed more than $100 million at the domestic box office and a second film that has grossed over $50 million. Oppenheimer’s revised domestic amount is over US$82 million, worldwide US$180.3 million.
There’s an argument that Barbie made Oppenheimer look good, that she was the tide that brought out all the boats. That would be a discredit to Universal’s ingenious promotional efforts to position a three-hour talk biopic as a thriller.
However, given that two films combined have sold more than half a billion copies worldwide, it’s safe to assume that two rival studios will never again be afraid to pit two frontrunners against each other.
Justin Kroll contributed to this report.