“Barbie” becomes a box-office bombshell as brands cash in on the franchise flywheel
Barbie’s dream weekend… Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie'' made a plastic, fantastic splash over the weekend. The super-pink flick raked in $162M domestically, surpassing "Super Mario Bros." as this year's top-grossing opening-weekend movie and the highest-earning debut weekend for a female director.
Hi, Barbie: Shares of Barbie parent Mattel jumped 2% yesterday (and are up 20%+ this year) on hopes the film would glam up sales for the toy maker.
FYI: Barbie makes up a third of Mattel’s revenue and has been the best-selling fashion doll for the past four years.
Pink is the new black… From Balmain’s $2K leggings to Mattel’s “I Am Kenough” hoodies and Crocs’ hot-pink clogs, Barbie merch has been all the buzz this summer. Over 100 brands including Bloomingdale’s, Gap, Kohl’s, and Xbox have dropped Barbie-fied products in hopes that consumers will spend on the trend (#barbiecore). Mattel has revamped Barbie’s look in recent years, introducing dolls with more diverse skin tones, hair styles, and body types. The brand could use the lift: Barbie revenue dipped 41% in the first quarter of this year.
It’s the franchise flywheel… Mattel doesn’t want to be a toy company: it wants to be an IP company by spinning its top franchises into multi-revenue machines (toys → movie deals → merch → repeat). The “Barbie” halo effect is expected to boost doll sales by 16% over the next three years, and upcoming Mattel-inspired features include a Hot Wheels movie (and possibly Uno). Rival toy maker Hasbro has already made billions from its “Transformers” franchise.