Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie’s clever spin on “Barbie” isn’t the only feature film based on a toy in the works at Mattel – far from it. But as audiences gear up to see how the Oscar-nominated director brings an artistic touch to the story of a toy doll, Mattel is also working on a “Barney” movie that one exec describes as “surrealistic” and not unlike the work of “Adaptation” and “Being John Malkovich” duo Charlie Kaufman and Spike Jonze.
“We’re leaning into the millennial angst of the property rather than fine-tuning this for kids,” Mattel Films executive Kevin McKeon told the New Yorker in a profile on the studio’s many projects that they have in development.