Mattel plans to bring the adventurous and expansive world of American Girl dolls to life in its upcoming live-action film, the company announced this week, positioning Paramount Pictures against Warner Bros after the success of Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” earlier this year.
Key Facts
Paramount Pictures and Temple Hill Entertainment will produce the “American Girl” movie in collaboration with producer and writer Lindsey Anderson Beer, who worked on Disney’s live-action “Bambi” and wrote Netflix’s “Sierra Burgess Is a Loser.”
The “American Girl” film is one of more than ten live-action movies that Mattel says it is working on, including Hot Wheels, Magic 8 Ball, Polly Pocket, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, and UNO.
Mattel formed a partnership with MGM to produce the “American Girl” film in 2019, according to the Associated Press, but ultimately, nothing materialized.
The “American Girl” film will have a tough task filling the big (plastic) shoes, as the second doll-based film from Mattel, “Barbie,” is the highest-grossing film of the year in the U.S. and abroad, totaling $1.4 billion.
Main Background
The American Girl dolls date back to 1986, with 32 million dolls sold to date. American Girl founder Pleasant Rowland sold the line to Mattel in 1998 for $700 million. The American Girl line features a variety of dolls representing different races, religions, and backgrounds from various historical periods, each with a backstory often addressing themes such as poverty, racism, slavery, and war. The first dolls—Samantha, Kirsten, and Molly—were all made from the same mold but had different hair and eye colors. Since then, additional face molds, skin tones, and other features have been added, with custom dolls also available. In 2021, American Girl dolls were inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame.
In a side joke, “Saturday Night Live” parodied the idea of the American Girl movie in April. The sketches discussed a film with a “terrifying” backstory for the dolls, including a friend doll who died of cholera and another whose father was a prisoner of war. The promotional announcement declared, “Come for the fun, stay for the teenage girls wearing four layers of skirts and bloomers.”
Forbes Ranking
Rowland, now 82, ranks No. 77 on this year’s Forbes list of self-made women, with an estimated net worth of $350 million. She founded the American Girl line using $1.2 million earned from royalties as a textbook writer and built a $300 million business before selling it to Mattel.
For more information, read the following articles:
– “Here’s what we know about Mattel’s growing cinematic universe after ‘Barbie’”
– “‘Barbie’ and ‘Oppenheimer’ dominate Golden Globe nominations”
– “Will the ‘Barbie’ movie get a sequel? Will there be a spinoff film for ‘Ken’?”
– “Why Mattel’s American Girl needs to rely on millennial moms (and perhaps dads too)”
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