The world’s most famous aspirational fashion doll is clicking her plastic heels back to the big screen! Universal’s Illumination (Despicable Me, The Super Mario Bros. Movie) has inked a deal with brand owner Mattel to develop Barbie’s first-ever fully-animated theatrical feature. No release date, attached talent or plot details have been revealed yet.
Since her big debut on toy shelves in 1959, Barbie has developed into a global pop culture phenomenon. More than 100 Barbie dolls are sold every minute, and the brand reigns as the No. 1 Girls/Dolls property across social media. Two years ago, her live-action reincarnation in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, starring Margot Robbie, had a record-breaking opening weekend and went on to become the highest-grossing release of 2023 ($1.447 billion worldwide / $636.2 million domestic) and the highest-grossing live-action comedy of all time. The pic received eight Oscar nominations, winning for Best Original Song (Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For?”).
Barbie is one of the highest-grossing media franchises of all time, powered by numerous video games (from 1984) and animated titles (from 2001), including 44 CG-animated movies for direct-to-video, broadcast and streaming, as well as shorts, animated series, web series and TV specials. The most recent animated movie, Barbie & Teresa: Recipe for Friendship, launched in March of this year on Netflix, produced by Mainframe Studios and Mattel Television.
Mattel, which recently combined its film and television units under Mattel Studios, has plans to release live-action movies based on Masters of the Universe (2026, Amazon MGM Studios), Matchbox (2026, Skydance/Apple) and Hot Wheels (Jon M. Chu attached to direct; Warner Bros., Mattel/Bad Robot), with adaptations of Whac-A-Mole and View-Master in the works, plus additional projects based on American Girl, Bob the Builder, Magic 8 Ball, Major Matt Mason, Polly Pocket, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, Thomas & Friends, UNO and Wishbone in development.
Headed by founder-producer Chris Meledandri, Illumination has produced 15 animated theatrical features since 2010, all of which are in the Top 50 highest-grossing films of all time. The studio’s upcoming feature projects include a sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie — the second-highest grossing film of 2023, behind Barbie — from directors Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic (April 3, 2026), Minions 3 directed by Pierre Coffin (July 1, 2026). Its development slate includes threequels for The Secret Life of Pets and Sing, Steven Spielberg’s Big Tree and an untitled Pharrell Williams project.
[Source: Deadline]
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