Even earlier than the Barbie film turned one of many largest movies of 2023, it was clear Mattel was going to make use of that as a leaping off level to deliver extra of its toys to the silver display screen. The corporate’s by no means been shy about what toys are getting the film therapy, with probably the most well-known of the bunch being one targeted on Barney the Purple Dinosaur that can star Nope’s Daniel Kaluuya.
Spoilers of the Week | June seventeenth
Not too long ago, Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz touched on that movie, at the moment titled Barbie & Buddies. In an interview with Semafor Enterprise, he stated it was “too early” to speak specifics for that movie, however claimed it will be much less existentially meta than Barbie was. “It is not going to be an odd film,” he stated. “I can let you know we’re taking a recent strategy that will probably be enjoyable, entertaining and culturally oriented.”
Kreiz’s feedback on Barney & Buddies conflict with ones beforehand made by Mattel Movies’ Kevin McKeon. Again in July, the chief claimed to The Wrap this film would “lean into the millennial angst” of the property, calling it “actually a play for adults. Not that it’s R-rated, however it’ll deal with among the trials and tribulations of being thirtysomething, rising up with Barney — simply the extent of disenchantment inside the technology.” That very same month, fellow government Robbie Brenner described it as being akin to Being John Malkovich or Adaptation—”Any film that has Barney is just not actually going to be simple,” she instructed Selection. “We’re not making Ted.”
No matter Mattel finally ends up doing with that Barney film, McKeon does have a degree in highlighting the oddness of rising up with the dinosaur. As highlighted within the 2022 documentary I Love You, You Hate Me, there was a time frame within the early 2000s the place teenagers and adults genuinely hated the character, with the previous making up songs about killing him and the latter sending loss of life threats to these concerned with the present. The film could not totally deal with that form of overblown ugliness, however it wouldn’t be stunning if that had been acknowledged in some trend.
In fact, all of this is determined by the precise Barney & Buddies film getting made and launched, and we’ll see how that goes.
[via Deadline]
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