Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz says Daniel Kaluuya’s Barney movie will not be a “surrealistic” A24-type venture and won’t be “odd.”
I really like you, and you like me, however are you aware what Mattel doesn’t love? Misconceptions about Daniel Kaluuya’s forthcoming Barney movie. After the success of its Barbie film, Mattel is raring to carry a number of properties to screens, and rumors concerning the tone and tenor for every venture have been making the rounds. Talking with The New Yorker in July, Mattel Movies government Kevin McKeon described Kaluuya’s Barney movie as an A24-type endeavor, with a script that finds the purple dinosaur occupying a “surrealistic” house. Nevertheless, Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz says McKeon’s description of the Barney venture is inaccurate.
“That one is getting a number of response,” Kreiz just lately advised Semafor. “It’s too early to be particular, however I can inform you we’re taking a contemporary method that will probably be enjoyable, entertaining and culturally oriented. It is not going to be an odd film.”
Kreiz’s phrases might disappoint those that thought Kaluuya’s model of Barney would “get bizarre.” A part of what makes Greta Gerwig’s Barbie so interesting is that it’s out-of-the-box and does sudden issues with a legendary property. Listening to Barney received’t go in that course is dispiriting.
“We’re leaning into the Millennial angst of the property relatively than fine-tuning this for youths. It’s actually a play for adults,” McKeon advised NYT in July. “Not that it’s R-rated, nevertheless it’ll give attention to a number of the trials and tribulations of being 30-something, rising up with Barney—simply the extent of disenchantment inside the technology.”
If McKeon is mistaken about Mattel’s method to Barney, what do you assume the studio has in thoughts for the kid leisure icon? Will Kaluuya take a extra healthful method to the fabric? Will he keep on the venture if Mattel insists on a extra family-friendly angle? It’s too early to know for certain, and the event course of has solely simply begun. Hopefully, Mattel will look exhausting at what made Barbie a runaway hit and produce one thing sudden. Whereas not each movie in Mattel’s slate must be an existential disaster and commentary on society like Barbie, it will be nice to reinvent Barney for an viewers of followers, outdated and new.