{"id":3621,"date":"2025-07-17T19:56:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T19:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/3621\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T19:56:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T19:56:08","slug":"illumination-mattel-studios-close-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/3621\/","title":{"rendered":"Illumination & Mattel Studios Close Deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tEXCLUSIVE: Two years after the record-setting release of Barbie<\/a>, the feminist live-action take on Mattel\u2019s iconic doll that became a cultural phenomenon, Illumination<\/a> and Mattel Studios<\/a> have finalized a deal to develop a new Barbie movie that will be the first in animation<\/a> for theaters, sources tell Deadline.<\/p>\n

\n\tReps for Illumination, Universal<\/a>, and Mattel declined to comment. Not yet dated, we\u2019re told the film will be released by Universal Pictures, which has an exclusive financing and distribution partnership with Illumination. No word yet on the plot of this Barbie or creatives attached.<\/p>\n

\n\tTranscending all expectations as it grossed over $1.44 billion worldwide, Greta Gerwig\u2019s Barbie, starring Margot Robbie, impacted culture like few other films in recent memory. Propelled to the highest heights in part by the \u201cBarbenheimer\u201d phenomenon, where audiences paired Barbie with Christopher Nolan\u2019s Oppenheimer in a double-feature event, the film was the highest grossing of 2023 and has solidified its place in history as one the highest-grossing films of all time, along with the highest-grossing for a female director. That pic was released by Warner Bros., rather than Universal, and is the highest-grossing in the studio\u2019s history. The film\u2019s award run culminated in eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, with Billie Eilish\u2019s \u201cWhat Was I Made For?\u201d winning Best Original Song.<\/p>\n

\n\tSince 1959, Barbie has held down its place as the the global category leader in Dolls, with more than 100 sold every minute. Barbie is also the #1 Girls\/Dolls toy brand on social media.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tMattel officially combined its film and television units<\/a> to form Mattel Studios last month, as we told you first. The studio has two films slated for release in 2026: a live-action Masters of the Universe, to be released by Amazon MGM Studios, and a live-action Matchbox produced alongside Skydance and Apple. Earlier this month, we broke the news that Jon M. Chu has been enlisted to direct<\/a> a live-action Hot Wheels movie for Warner Bros, with Mattel Studios and Bad Robot producing. The company also recently announced feature adaptations of the toy brands\u00a0Whac-A-Mole<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0View-Master<\/a> and is developing additional projects based on IP including American Girl, Bob the Builder, Magic 8 Ball, Major Matt Mason, Polly Pocket, Rock \u2018Em Sock \u2018Em Robots, Thomas & Friends, UNO and Wishbone.<\/p>\n

\n\tChris Meledandri\u2019s animation powerhouse Illumination has two films coming up for release through Universal: a sequel to box office smash The Super Mario Bros. Movie (April 3, 2026) with Nintendo and Minions 3 (July 1, 2026).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EXCLUSIVE: Two years after the record-setting release of Barbie, the feminist live-action take on Mattel\u2019s iconic doll that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3622,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[789,4527,49,48,75,4528,4529,337,4530],"class_list":["post-3621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-animation","tag-barbie","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-illumination","tag-mattel-studios","tag-movies","tag-universal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3621"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3621\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3622"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}