Mattel will not rest until every toy it makes is a billion-dollar movie. Fresh off the success of Barbie (and coasting off the viral “celebs playing Uno†moment), Mattel Films head Robbie Brenner spoke to Variety about its upcoming slate in July 2023. The upcoming films include Daniel Kaluuya’s Barney movie that will have Being John Malkovich vibes, J.J. Abrams’s “grounded and gritty†Hot Wheels flick, a “PG-13 thriller†based on Magic 8-Balls, and a Polly Pocket movie originally helmed by Lena Dunham, who has since left the film, and starring Lily Collins. Brenner said that Collins was “so smart and so specific and so productorial.†That could mean that she’s productive, or maybe that she’s product-oriented? That would be handy for a movie based on a product. Here’s what we know about the still-in-the-works IP grab.
Why isn’t Lena Dunham involved anymore?
The writer-actor-director isn’t the right Girl for the job, despite what’s been previously reported. “I’m going to tell you something here that I haven’t told anyone: I’m not going to make the Polly Pocket movie,†she told The New Yorker in a July 9 interview. “I wrote a script, and I was working on it for three years.†Despite all the work she’s put in, Dunham is abandoning the long-gestating project in search of something that she feels only she can create, much like Greta Gerwig’s Barbie.
“I think Greta managed this incredible feat, which was to make this thing that was literally candy to so many different kinds of people and was perfectly and divinely Greta,†she said. “And I just — I felt like, unless I can do it that way, I’m not going to do it. I don’t think I have that in me. I feel like the next movie I make needs to feel like a movie that I absolutely have to make. No one but me could make it. And I did think other people could make Polly Pocket.â€
What do we know about the plot?
With Dunham seeking new pastures, the plot of the film is up in the air. If they go with the former writer-director’s vision, then Polly Pocket will be a family comedy following the titular pocket-size character as she befriends a young girl. “We have a lot of fun with the idea of what happens when a small person encounters a big world,†Dunham told The Hollywood Reporter in 2022, teasing a character the size of the ’90s dolls the film is based on. “They made her a little bigger now, which I support, because of choking hazards. But I’m writing ’90s tiny.â€
Another IP on the Mattel Films productorial line is a different family comedy based on American Girl Dolls. But (not to scab during a writers strike) we all know what an American Girl Doll movie should be, right? A multiverse movie with all the American Girls being disappointed in how badly history has gone. Can you imagine how Molly and Addy would feel about politics in 2024? Every American Girl has the same problems to overcome, and that’s a clear refutation of a progressivist view of history. Maybe Dunham would be down for this pitch instead?
This post has been updated.