The toy industry has a long, proud history of creating cartoons just to sell toys to kids, and now one of the industry's biggest players has decided that it can use the popularity of its iconic toy properties to make money at the box office. Earlier this month, Mattel announced that it is launching a new film division called Mattel Films. This new division will develop and produce feature films based on Mattel's stable of popular and recognizable brands. This is a huge move for the popular toy company and one that follows in the footsteps of competitor Hasbro, which launched Hasbro Films back in 2009. It is also a mulligan for the company, whose previous production company was DOA with Max Steel.
These days, what carries the most weight at the box office are franchises and brand names. Properties with built-in audiences and name recognition are as good as gold and if those properties have a heavy nostalgia quotient, when done right, it's a license to print money. Mattel has all of that. The toymaker has been around since 1945 and generations of kids have played with its toys. Some of these properties have already been proven in the cartoon realm, and have been begging for years for a big screen adaptation. Now, with the launch of Mattel Films, and thanks to a few properties coming back to Mattel after the rights lapsed, Mattel can hopefully capitalize on its beloved franchises with some quality movies.
Mattel has a lot of brands to its name, but some of them stand above the rest as obviously ripe for the big screen. So here are the five projects we'd love to see from Mattel Films.
BarbieOf all the properties on this list, Barbie seemed like it was the closest to getting made. Sony had the film rights to the character and a movie starring Amy Schumer was set to debut this summer. But Amy Schumer dropped out of the project and Anne Hathaway stepped in. Then the project was pushed back to 2020 and now Sony's rights have expired, timing perfectly with the launch of Mattel Films. This is probably Mattel's biggest brand, so it is inevitable that a Barbie movie happens. The previously reported take would have seen Barbie in a fish-out-of-water story discovering that it is fine that she doesn't fit in with the perfect residents of Barbieland. That concept has potential to say some interesting things and teach little girls positive messages, but it is hardly original. Hopefully a different take from Mattel can tell a more interesting story that maintains a positive message and gives this beloved character the movie she deserves. The best Barbie movie now is probably Toy Story: Hawaiian Vacation. I doubt Mattel would take that sort of tongue in cheek approach to Barbie and Ken, but it shows one way the characters can work.
Hot WheelsHot Wheels is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and over 6 billion(!) cars sold, and the time seems right to bring this storied brand to the big screen. I'm thinking Fast & Furious but way more fantastical and aimed a bit younger. Sure, Fast & Furious defies physics all the time but I'm talking about a truly out there movie with imaginary cars and exotic environments with tracks including all the loops and such like the playsets you built as a kid. There is precedent for this with the Wachowski's Speed Racer. And although that was a failure, I don't think that the '60s cartoon upon which that was based has anywhere near the brand recognition that Hot Wheels does. In addition to the toys, the Hot Wheels name has been used on cartoon series for years. The benefit to Hot Wheels too is that there is no story to be faithful to. So this is one of those rare situations where slapping the brand name on a movie for recognition purposes won't be an example of just a cash grab. Have cool cars going fast and you've got a Hot Wheels movie.
Polly PocketIf you grew up in the '90s there's a good chance you might remember playing with (or choking on) Polly Pocket toys, or their boy-aimed counterpart, Mighty Max. These were the palm-sized playsets that had tiny little figures inside. Well, Mattel relaunched Polly Pocket toys this year and a television series was made to accompany the relaunch (sell toys). In the series, Polly Pocket is an 11-year-old genius who inherits a magical locket from her grandmother that has the power to shrink people and objects down to pocket size. As you would imagine, zaniness, adventures and life lessons ensue as Polly discovers that with great power comes great responsibility. The concept provides an obvious opportunity to tell a Honey, I Shrunk The Kids type story, only this time, the shrinking is no accident and the tech-savvy genius is the kid and not a bumbling adult inventor like Wayne Szalinski. It's a fun and proven concept that could be given new life on the big screen with great characters and a solid story. The special effects heavy nature of this concept would also hugely benefit from modern technology.
Masters of the UniverseThis is the big one and the most obvious. If Mattel Films does nothing else, it needs to help give us, finally, a good Masters of the Universe film (personally I'm actually weirdly fond of the Dolph Lundgren film, but it's not Masters of the Universe). Like Barbie, the endless production hell for this project at Sony saw the rights lapse and now it is back at Mattel. This is easily the most cinematic of these properties and it already has an established mythology thanks to the multiple cartoon series and comic books over the years. Unlike the other projects on this list, a Masters of the Universe movie should skew older and go for a truly epic, big-budget spectacle feel. As evidenced by the early 2000s TV series, the story's blend of technology and magic means that a proper Masters of the Universe film would be Lord of the Rings meets Star Wars. A blockbuster in that science fiction fantasy vein with He-Man's name recognition has franchise written all over it. Spinoffs, prequels, She-Ra, it's all on the table with Masters of the Universe. By the power of Grayskull, Mattel Films, please, get this right.
Thomas & FriendsUnlike Pixar's Cars films, which take place in a dystopian hell where humans have been genocided or worse yet, turned into the cars in an Annihilation-esque abomination of nature, in Thomas & Friends, the anthropomorphized locomotives live alongside homo sapiens in harmony on the fictional island of Sodor. Thomas the Tank Engine has been around in books and on television for decades and new episodes of the show are still entertaining and teaching kids to this day. This light-hearted series would work well as an animated adventure movie aimed at little kids. Obviously the Cars comparison might make such a project seem derivative, even though Thomas came first, but you can never underestimate how lucrative kids movies can be and a Thomas & Friends movie could differentiate itself in different ways. For example some Thomas & Friends iterations have included musical elements and the stories frequently find Thomas and his fellow locomotives helping out each other as well as the human characters. The longevity of this property and the brand recognition make it an obvious choice to get the big screen treatment.
Jude Law Just Teased What Sherlock Holmes 3 Will Be About. Robert Downey Jr. Teases His Sherlock Holmes Face For The Third Movie. Hot Topics. Amber Heard Alleges Johnny Depp Perjured Himself In Court.
First Sherlock Holmes 3 Plot Details Revealed by Jude Law
Black Panther takes place in our world, and its florid science-fiction touches are very thoughtfully conceived so as to suggest how they evolved out of real artistic traditions from East Africa (this aesthetic, which the film does not invent, is part of a broader trend from the middle-late 20th Century known as Afro-Futurism; Black Panther is
The marriage (and divorce) of Storm and Black Panther
Why Peter Jackson Is Very Excited About Making Mortal Engines
8 Team-Ups We'd Love to See in Avengers: Endgame @yournerdside #yournerdside Posted on March 19, 2019 March 19, 2019 by Aaron There is so much to look forward to in the upcoming Avengers: Endgame , especially considering it is the culmination of the entire MCU thus far.
8 Team-Ups We'd Love to See in Avengers: Endgame
Everything You Need To Know About Captain Marvel's Teammates Movies September 15, 2018 No Comments When the Avengers arrived on the Kree homeworld, hoping to broker peace and protect Earth from becoming collateral damage in the war, they were confronted by Starforce, who believed them part of a plot to assassinate the Kree rulers.
'Captain Marvel': Everything You Need to Know About Brie
Elizabeth Moss Replaces Johnny Depp In The Invisible Man
That's all about to change, however, courtesy of director Rob Marshall and star Emily Blunt's forthcoming Mary Poppins Returns — and those waiting to see how well Blunt fits into Andrews
The story goes as follows: there's an approximately 40 second scene where Taron Edgerton and Richard Madden have what's been referred to as a "nude cuddle" in Rocketman. Reportedly this scene is offensive enough to the studio that they want it cut, and the filmmakers are fighting this decision through "heated discussions."
Is Rocketman Having Issues With Its Nudity And Gay Content?
'Outlaw King' Film Review: Chris Pine Scottish War Epic Is Meh-dieval Re-edited after its Toronto fest debut, this grimy, serviceable time-waster for Netflix subscribers saves its real energy
Patty Jenkins Calls Wonder Woman 1984 Mind-Blowing Movies January 30, 2019 No Comments Things are really heating up in the DC Universe, as Warner Bros. is currently riding the wave of Aquaman 's success .
Patty Jenkins Calls Wonder Woman 1984 Mind-Blowing - MNNOFA NEWS
A wide release is classified as opening on 600 screens or more. It was close, but London Fields opened on just over that amount and now has the dubious honor of being one of the worst-received movies in a very long time. Amber Heard toplines the cast of the movie, which adapts Martin Amis' novel of the same name. On the flip side, the novel
Amber Heard's London Fields makes Worst Box Office Opening in
Batman v Superman: BvS made $873,634,919, with $543,274,725 from the foreign box office and $330,360,194 at the domestic box office. So you can see that Aquaman just now passed BvS at the domestic (U.S./Canada) box office, which is still the biggest market in the world.
Aquaman Just Topped Batman V Superman At U.S. Box Office
Jason Momoa Says Henry Cavill Isn't Quitting Superman Movies December 14, 2018 No Comments There's been a lot of mystery regarding Henry Cavill 's future as Superman in the DC Extended Universe, particularly after it was reported back in September that the actor was leaving the franchise behind .
Aquaman: Jason Momoa Says Henry Cavill Isn't Leaving Superman
Danny Boyle calls exit from directing Bond 25 a 'great shame' By Clark Collis. March 21, 2019 at 03:18 PM EDT FB Twitter. More In May 2018, Eon Productions — the company which oversees the
Bond 25 May Miss Release Date With Danny Boyle Out - Variety
Harley Quinn Rumored To Be Getting Her Own DC Trilogy Movies January 19, 2019 No Comments The DC live-action universe has had a fascinating tenure in theaters, full of ebbs and flows.
Harley Quinn Rumored To Be Getting Her Own DC Trilogy
movie streaming quality
youtube movie streaming
movie streaming game of thrones
streaming movie kingsman
the best free movie streaming sites
movie streaming uk legal
disney movie streaming
is vice movie streaming
the best free movie streaming sites 2018
qube movie streaming
i can speak movie streaming
justice league movie streaming
movie streaming apps for roku
movie streaming germany
movie streaming on xbox one
how do you know movie streaming
movie streaming kaleidoscope
classic movie streaming
vibes movie streaming
the kid who would be king full movie streaming
free movie streaming xbox 360
movie streaming on roku
movie streaming venom
good will hunting full movie streaming
movie streaming membership
how much data does movie streaming use
movie streaming reddit
venom movie streaming
reddit movie streaming sites 2018
movie streaming english free
does movie streaming count as download limit
yify movie streaming
movie streaming on firestick
what is amazon movie streaming
one two jaga full movie streaming
what does movie streaming mean
popcorn movie streaming
what's love got to do with it movie streaming
movie streaming news
movie streaming sites uk
movie streaming philippines
movie streaming deals
best movie streaming
best movie streaming sites free
movie streaming laws
danur 2 full movie streaming
movie streaming uk
reddit movie streaming
coco movie streaming
movie streaming sites free
equalizer 2 full movie streaming
movie streaming check
kedarnath movie streaming
best online movie streaming site
free movie streaming no sign up
movie streaming meaning
the best movie streaming service
hd movie streaming
movie streaming online indoxxi
movie streaming unblocked
how big is a streaming movie
movie streaming hd free
movie streaming sites australia
online movie streaming sites
zac efron ted bundy movie streaming
everyday movie streaming
movie streaming uae
movie streaming rights
movie streaming box
movie streaming glass
movie streaming bandwidth
gifted movie streaming
best worst movie documentary streaming
movie streaming sites new zealand
the best movie streaming sites
apple movie streaming service
i can only imagine movie streaming
movie streaming networks
qnap movie streaming
dilan 1991 full movie streaming
online hollywood movie streaming
uri movie streaming partner
shame movie streaming
movie streaming harry potter
the worst horror movie ever made streaming
movie streaming urls
movie streaming keeps stopping
movie streaming hong kong
the little engine that could movie streaming
kursk movie streaming
movie streaming template free
android movie streaming app
zero full movie streaming
justice league movie streaming online
ninja movie streaming
movie streaming app
dilan 1990 full movie streaming
is this movie streaming
movie streaming website
movie streaming nz
rad movie streaming free
movie streaming online sites
is goosebumps movie streaming
what streaming movie should i watch tonight
top free movie streaming websites
good will hunting free movie streaming
movie streaming website template
movie streaming apps reddit
movie streaming script
how movie streaming sites
#funnytime #watchfamily #tvroomdesign #birdbox #watchhill #4thofjuly #putitinreverseterry #Serialemetitrashqip #WatchJunkie #america #WatchUsRise #watchtattoo #bff #movieaddict #hostales #FreeMovies #filmtavsiyesi #melaninmagic #getsome #Filma #watchalert #netflix #blackking #Filma24 #blacksocialmedia #blavity #filmizle #watchluxus #watchmvmt #firecrackers #melanin #Filmametitrashqip #filmyorumu #socialstreaming #holiday #SomosTuConexi #watchphoto #Seriale #watchdose #watchpornid #watchbrandname #watchblogger #WatchRoss #murica #watchwomen #TVSHow #watchcandy #independenceday #fireworks #watchswag #filmlover #watchestyle #merica #CASAMXhostales #blackbusiness #blackhistory365 #Movies #watchmaniac #watchos4 #filmography #TvSeries #blacksuccess #blacktech #slay #WatchMovies #watchobsessed #watchingthesunset
