Mattel Expects Extra Than $125M in Gross Billings From ‘Barbie’ Film in 2023

The Barbie film served as “a template” for Mattel, with 14 different dwell motion films in growth and plans to increase into different verticals. 

“What you noticed across the Barbie film was we imagine a template, a case examine, a chance to really perceive the worth and enchantment that our manufacturers have, the cultural resonance, and importantly, our capability to execute these initiatives each creatively and commercially, and we hope to and anticipate to have extra of these,” mentioned Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz. “We’re not saying it will likely be as massive or as profitable as Barbie, however it will likely be the identical method, the identical alternative and the identical capitalized methodology that we imagine served us very nicely on this case.”

Talking at Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Know-how convention Thursday, alongside Mattel CFO Anthony DiSilvestro, Kreiz outlined upcoming movies involving Mattel IP, together with the J.J. Abrams Scorching Wheels movie, a Matchbox automobile movie from Skydance, a Main Matt Mason movie starring Tom Hanks, Polly Pocket, developed by Lena Dunham and starring Lily Collins, Barney, in growth with Daniel Kaluuya, and a Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots film with Vin Diesel. 

The toy firm, which additionally a rising tv slate, together with Scorching Wheels: Final Problem on NBC and Pictionary on Fox, mentioned even because the variety of initiatives develop, Mattel will largely stay “capital mild” of their method to those sorts of partnerships, preferring to largely be a contributor of IP, moderately than a bigger participant. 

Nevertheless, Mattel remains to be benefiting vastly from the success of the Barbie film, which has now turn into the top-grossing movie of 2023, bringing in near $1.4 billion worldwide. Mattel participates on this success because the rights proprietor and a producer, with the corporate’s revenue participation scaling with the success of the movie, mentioned DiSilvestro. In 2023, the corporate expects direct film participation and associated toys and client merchandise to lead to gross billings of greater than $125 million, he mentioned. There’s additionally the expectations of continued income in 2024 and past. 

That is serving to offset among the softness that Mattel is seeing within the retail phase, as retailers battle with elevated stock ranges and decrease spending on toys. DiSilvestro added that he believes the corporate is now in a greater spot, when it comes to stock ranges, because it heads into the vacation season. 

Regardless, Kreiz mentioned the corporate is now capable of discover different verticals, even exterior of the movie enterprise, due to the Barbie film. 

“The market response to the success of the film actually opened up new alternatives for Mattel,” Kreiz mentioned. “It modified the dialog for us with different companions, not simply within the movie enterprise, however in different areas, and it actually served to shine a light-weight on the technique and the power of our portfolio.”