For better or for worse, money drives cinematic trends. And Barbie is currently raking in the cash for Warner Bros. and the parent company that owns the rights to the iconic doll, Mattel. Like the eponymous character the movie is based on, Barbie is breaking all kinds of barriers and records, and might even lead to Greta Gerwig becoming the first female director to make a film that grosses over a billion dollars at the box office.
In stark contrast, the MCU’s big attempt at a summer hit, Secret Invasion, isn’t doing so well among the fandom and seems to be lagging in terms of streaming numbers too. The noir spy drama has been considered lackluster by many, despite an absolutely golden cast that includes Samuel L. Jackson, Emilia Clarke, and Olivia Coleman. Long-term fans of Marvel think it’s both too sedate and nonsensical in terms of world-building, whereas other viewers who thought they’d be getting something a little less CGI-laden and formulaic have been disappointed by the lack of risks taken compared to what was promised.
This stuttering start to Phase 5 of the MCU isn’t out of the blue, either. Phase 4 was beset by problems, with many Marvel lovers turned off by poor writing that fed into a confusing multiverse concept that was supposed to play by its own rules, but ended up being too messy to follow. This was always a potential banana skin for the comic book franchise, given how disparate the source material for the MCU is (comics, especially those with characters that have been appearing for decades, don’t always make sense in terms of timelines or even characterization), but the writers and producers haven’t done much to negate potential problems, instead hoping some fancy tech and a few basic jokes will paper over the cracks.
A large reason for this decline is that the MCU is simply too much of a juggernaut now. While it’s great that Disney and Marvel can spend billions on brilliant casts, fantastic sets, and high-end production, that all seems to have come at the expense of writing interesting, unique stories that speak to audiences. This would be fine if it took a Fast and Furious route, and made films that leaned into their status as fun, explosive blockbusters, but producers and studio heads seem determined to paint the MCU as artsy and pushing boundaries. This contrast between facts and reality is what’s really pushing people away, and is at the heart of why the newer films and shows often have logical missteps in them. In trying to build a cohesive universe, Marvel has simply confused everyone and itself. However, because everything the MCU does is practically a cash printing machine, the likelihood of the franchise being killed off or rebooted properly is close to zero. There have been too many dollars poured in, and execs know they’ll recoup it because their built-in audience will continue to head to the theater to see new films in the MCU, even as they become even more formulaic.
This isn’t an issue that’s intrinsic to Marvel, of course. As the Spider-Verse films (produced by Sony, not Disney) show, there can still be fresh takes on comic hero stories that are both critical and commercial successes. However, the desire to take risks and experiment in the MCU will always be tempered by the bottom line, and money always wins out over creativity.
The MCU has another big problem, too. Its fandom is almost too dedicated and invested in its products, to the point that many are so entitled that they’ll immediately trash anything that doesn’t fit into their narrow view of what a Marvel show or movie should do. This is an issue that’s worsened by social media, where it seems any bit of content, post, or comment that doesn’t take the context of every user’s life into consideration is rubbished by those suffering from main character syndrome.
So, all in all, it’s looking a little rough for the comic book guys (minus the swimming pools of cash they can still dive into, of course). Yet, despite all these issues that are making the MCU creak at the seams, it seems that on the back of Barbie’s success Mattel is keen to delve further into its extensive IP and begin its own cinematic universe.
Of course, Barbie‘s box office dominance has been important for plans to make more movies based on Mattel products, but the idea has been in the works for a while now. As outlined in an extensive New Yorker article, Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz has been thinking about how to get the best out of the company’s vast trove of products since he joined five years ago, and he’s used the MCU as a blueprint. There’s no doubting his commitment to the plan, either: at the very beginning of his project in 2018 he hired Miramax veteran producer and Harvey Weinstein protege Robbie Brenner to run the company’s burgeoning film division.
Like Marvel, Mattel has so many existing products and characters to work with that it could be making films and shows for years and barely scratch the surface. From Polly Pocket to Hot Wheels to Master of the Universe, the toy company could do everything from big action blockbusters to sweet, nuanced coming-of-age films. By beginning the project with Barbie, the company’s biggest product and the one with the most cultural cache, it made a statement: the Mattel Cinematic Universe is here, and it will be for a long time.
The toy company, usually known for rabid protection of its IP (so much so it sued the Europop band Aqua when they released the song “Barbie Girl” in the nineties), surprised many by hiring indie filmmaker Greta Gerwig to run the Barbie project, and seemingly allowing her an incredible amount of creative control. Not only was Gerwig able to get some potentially controversial politics into the film (controversial if your mind is stuck in the fifties, anyway), but she also poked a lot of fun at the company for its overly male leadership team and the inherent money-grabbing nature of a big business.
Barbie wasn’t the template for an artistically or commercially successful toy flick, though. Transformers was a box office smash a decade and a half ago, and The Lego Movie showed that even if a film is effectively a long advert, it can still have the sort of heart you’d expect from a veteran auter making a passion project. And, while it’s easy to say this is all an attempt to plumb the public for more cash, the fact Mattel chose not to re-release some of the obscure characters that Gerwig brought back into public consciousness with Barbie shows that the film division may very well end up being its own thing (sorry to those who were hoping for a Michael Cera Allan doll).
With that all said, Barbie‘s insane marketing campaign shows that consumerism rather than art is at the center of what Mattel wants to do with its cinematic universe. While we might not be getting a Midge doll, we’ve seen plenty of new Barbie products being pumped out to coincide with the film’s release. And, while Barbie was more daring from a creative, storytelling, and dialogue point of view than the vast majority of MCU shows and films, it still has the same problem that a lot of movies do nowadays: it’s just the rehashing of an old idea or character, albeit with a unique spin.
And that’s the problem with a potential Mattel Cinematic Universe or any franchise that’s based on decades-old IP. Even if its owners are willing to make interesting things and take risks, the fact is that the film industry is increasingly reliant on existing content. For everyone’s talk of sequel fatigue, the way Hollywood operates means that new ideas will almost never be given the chances and funding Barbie was, no matter how unique or brilliant or touching they may be.
This is tied into a wider point about the way capitalism sucks the innovation out of creative products, because to the people in charge (and making all that cash) more money coming in is always good, even if its followed by people complaining and the slow death of a red giant, like the MCU. The fact is, money-hungry execs don’t care about art, no matter what indie darlings they sign up for their projects. The lowest common denominator and an inbuilt desire audiences have to seek comfort will always win out. It’s up to creative types to change that and produce things that will make people think in a different way. But it appears that Mattel, and Hollywood in general, would rather mine the past than look to the future.