Mattel Exec on Rebooting Barney for Daniel Kaluuya’s Movie and a Max Animated Series — and Is the ‘American Girl’ Doll Movie the Next ‘Barbie’?

variety.com:

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer From your imagination back to your TV screen, iconic purple dinosaur Barney returns this week with the new animated Max series “Barney’s World.” In a bid to appeal to what Mattel chief franchise officer Josh Silverman dubs “newstalgia,” the reincarnation of the ’90s sensation is the latest entertainment project from the toy giant, which last year offered up its IP for Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” and is now working on a live-action “Barney” movie with Daniel Kaluuya, a film based on the American Girl doll line and a release of a big-budget adaptation of “Masters of the Universe” with Amazon MGM Studios next June. “Barney’s World,” which debuted Monday on Max and will have its linear launch Oct.

18 on Cartoon Network, is a prime example of how Mattel’s TV and film groups are working overtime to keep Millennial, Gen Z and preschool-aged consumers (which they prefer to refer to as “fans,” per Silverman) engaged heading into their eight decade of business. “Next year, we’re going to be celebrating our 80th anniversary for Mattel, which is incredible,” Mattel chief franchise officer Josh Silverman told Variety. “Born in a garage in 1945, and next year is going to be eight decades of Mattel.

And we have some incredible, really cool plans to share across the whole portfolio. And the Mattel brand always had resonance, it now has relevance as well, coming off the back of the ‘Barbie’ film.

And so we’re really excited to continue to grow the brand and the entire portfolio that exists within it.” Read Variety‘s interview with Silverman about Mattel’s entertainment and consumer products plans across franchises, including Barney, Barbie, American Girl and more, below.