Barbie Movie in Development at Sony as Live Action Comedy

Mattel has found a starring role for Barbie, setting up a live action comedy at Sony Pictures that the toymaker will produce with Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald.

The studio plans to start lensing the film by the end of the year, using a script written by Jenny Bicks (she wrote for and executive produced Showtime’s “The Big C,” and co-wrote “Rio 2″).

Universal Pictures had planned to produce a film around the popular doll in 2009, with producer Laurence Mark.

Naturally, Sony sees Barbie as a potential new franchise for the studio. In addition to “The Amazing Spider-Man” and its spinoffs like “Venom” and “The Sinister Six,” Sony also is looking to revive its “Men in Black” and “Bad Boys” franchises, as well as reboot “Smurfs.” Parkes and MacDonald are also attached to “Men in Black.”

Tim Kilpin, executive VP of global brands for Mattel, described the latest bigscreen plans for Barbie as a contemporary comedy that brings her playful personality to life.

Sony and Mattel will certainly have a lot to work with.

Barbie has had 150 careers through her more than 50 years as a doll, serving as a princess, president, mermaid and movie star — with many of those set to be worked into the film. Her signature pink Malibu mansion and sports car are also likely to be featured on the big screen.

“We’ve always thought that the Barbie story had great potential, but a universe of possibilities opened up when Jenny, Walter and Laurie brought us their unexpected, clever, and truly funny concept,” said Hannah Minghella, Columbia Pictures’ president of production. “It captures everything that has made Barbie a classic for generation after generation while also standing on its own, establishing Barbie as a truly original screen character.”

The project is the second between Mattel and Sony, who are also developing a film adaptation of “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe,” based on the popular action figure line from the 1980s.

Parkes+MacDonald shingle president Marc Resteghini will executive produce the Barbie film with Julia Pistor, of Playground Prods., Mattel’s inhouse entertainment division. Mattel also has a “Hot Wheels” movie set up at Legendary Entertainment.

Parkes and MacDonald developed the Barbie film and will produce the project through a development fund they set up with Image Nation, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Media.

“While it’s an overused word, Barbie truly is a legend, a cultural symbol whose career choices have been as unlimited as her wardrobe,” Parkes and MacDonald said in a statement. “She is about empowerment, but never at the expense of fun. Our hope is to capture all of these aspects of Barbie in a modern take of the character that can appeal to moviegoers of all ages.”

Creative Artists Agency reps Mattel and Parkes+MacDonald, while United Talent Agency has Bicks.

Naturally, Sony sees Barbie as a potential new franchise for the studio. In addition to “The Amazing Spider-Man” and its spinoffs like “Venom” and “The Sinister Six,” Sony also is looking to revive its “Men in Black” and “Bad Boys” franchises, as well as reboot “Smurfs.” Parkes and MacDonald are also attached to “Men in Black.”

Sony’s ‘Barbie’ Movie Draws Diablo Cody for Rewrite
March 4, 2015 | 06:45PM PT Dave McNary

Diablo Cody has been hired to write the next draft of the script for Sony’s live-action Barbie movie.

The studio launched the comedy project last April with Mattel and Parkes/MacDonald Image Nation with Jenny Bicks writing the first draft. Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and former studio chief Amy Pascal are producing.

Julia Pistor is executive producing for Mattel’s Playground Productions. Hannah Minghella and Lauren Abrahams are overseeing for the studio.

The story will follow Barbie in a contemporary setting, but details of the plot have not been disclosed.

The Barbie doll has had 150 careers over more than 50 years as princess, president, mermaid and movie star.

Cody’s credits include her Oscar-winning script for “Juno,” “Young Adult” and the upcoming “Ricki and the Flash,” starring Meryl Streep.

Cody is repped by WME and manager Mason Novick.

Barbie has had 150 careers through her more than 50 years as a doll, serving as a princess, president, mermaid and movie star — with many of those set to be worked into the film. Her signature pink Malibu mansion and sports car are also likely to be featured on the big screen.

You're making a film adaptation of the toy Barbie at Sony. Can she be embraced by feminists?

MACDONALD When she was created, a young girl's only choice was playing with a baby doll — what more says your only reason to be is to be a mother and take care of a baby? Barbie was independent. She was more feminist than we would think. Barbie can have 10 careers. So is that bad? We get Diablo Cody's script in two or three weeks, and we'll go from there.

Barbie has had 150 careers through her more than 50 years as a doll, serving as a princess, president, mermaid and movie star — with many of those set to be worked into the film. Her signature pink Malibu mansion and sports car are also likely to be featured on the big screen.

Amy Schumer in Talks to Star in 'Barbie' Movie From Sony
11:48 AM PST 12/2/2016 by Borys Kit

Mattel and producers Walter F. Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, and Amy Pascal have teamed up for the project, which will try to take a contemporary spin on beauty, feminism and identity.

A year ago, Sony hired three scribes to pen separate screenplays with the studio picking Hilary Winston’s idea and script with which to work off. It is expected that Schumer will rewrite the script with her sister, Kim Caramele.

A search for a director is also underway.

The Barbie doll, launched in March 1959 from El Segundo, California-based Mattel, is one of the biggest toy brands in the world, bringing in $3 billion annually. But it’s a brand that has had to address issues of self-image and race in modern times.

The feature, with Schumer in the lead, will try to address those in a story that begins in a perfect land of Barbies where one woman slowly awakens to the fact that she doesn’t fit it. She is expelled from the idealistic land and journeys to the real world, where she discovers that being unique is an asset.

The studio is hoping to make an imaginative family comedy with plenty of heart, using the Tom Hanks classics Splash and Big, as well as Disney’s more recent Enchanted, which starred Amy Adams, as touchstones.

The road to a Barbie movie has not been an easy one and finding the right take has been critical. One point the project was looking to be a buddy comedy, a two-hander that teams Barbie with an overworked bureaucrat looking for an assistant.

Schumer’s casting is sure to raise eyebrows. One, it goes against the classic image of Barbie being a thin beauty that has come under fire in recent times, which is precisely the point of this casting. And two, Schumer has cultivated a brand of saucy comedy that can clash with Mattel’s pristine image of a gal who has unlimited career options.

Schumer is repped by UTA, management firms Maverick and B. and law firm Schreck Rose