<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



DC Comics’ late-summer superhero movie&nbsp;Blue Beetle&nbsp;grossed roughly $9.8 million on its opening day at the U.S. box office, taking down Mattel’s&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;after a month on top of the box office charts, though&nbsp;Blue Beetle’s opening still pales in comparison to rival Marvel’s recent releases, a lackluster start for DC’s latest movie, which cost a reported $104 million to make.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Blue Beetle&nbsp;has pulled in more than $13 million since its opening, including $3.3 million in Thursday previews,&nbsp;<a href="https://deadline.com/2023/08/box-office-blue-beetle-strays-barbie-1235522235/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Deadline</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://variety.com/2023/film/box-office/box-office-blue-beetle-previews-1235698810/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Variety</a>&nbsp;reported, taking down&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;after 29 straight days on top of the U.S. box office, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/daily/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Box Office Mojo</a>.



The DC movie is projected to make between $25 million to $32 million through Sunday,&nbsp;Variety&nbsp;reported, though&nbsp;Deadline&nbsp;puts it at $25 million, making it DC’s latest underperforming film as it struggles to compete with rival Marvel.



Its opening could also finish with less than half of the $55.1 million DC’s&nbsp;The Flash&nbsp;pulled in domestically over its opening weekend in June, though&nbsp;The Flash&nbsp;also struggled to meet expectations, falling short of its $70 million opening weekend projection, after the film faced&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/conormurray/2023/02/14/a-detailed-look-at-flash-star-ezra-millers-rough-2-years-harassment-burglary-charges-and-more/?sh=29e8e15029b7">controversy</a>&nbsp;over harassment and disorderly conduct charges against star Ezra Miller.



By comparison, Marvel’s&nbsp;Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3&nbsp;pulled in $118.4 million in its opening weekend in May, while&nbsp;Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania&nbsp;grossed $106.2 million in its opening weekend in February and Sony’s&nbsp;Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse&nbsp;grossed $120.7 million in its first weekend.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



The DC movie has a 91% audience score and a 75% critics’ score on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blue_beetle" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Rotten Tomatoes</a>, though critics have not been universally friendly, giving it a score of 61 out of 100 on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.metacritic.com/movie/blue-beetle" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Metacritic</a>. A review in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/16/dc-latino-superhero-film-blue-beetle-review" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Guardian</a>&nbsp;lauded the movie for setting a “milestone for representation” as the first live-action Latino superhero film, but confessed the movie “suffers from overplayed beats,” due to the “fatigue from oversaturation” of a seemingly never ending string of Hollywood superhero movies. A&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/16/movies/blue-beetle-review.html#:~:text=The%20plot%20is%20boilerplate%20and,family%20members%20steal%20the%20show." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">New York Times</a>&nbsp;review didn’t pull any punches either, calling the plot “boilerplate” and the superhero “not particularly compelling.”



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-to-watch-for">WHAT TO WATCH FOR</h2>



Barbie&nbsp;is just under $30 million short of surpassing&nbsp;The Super Mario Bros. Movie&nbsp;as the year’s highest-grossing movie at the domestic box office. Since its release,&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;has pulled in $545.8 million in the U.S. and another $660.6 million internationally, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1077904129/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a>&nbsp;from Box Office Mojo, putting it just behind the Universal Pictures and Nintendo blockbuster, which has grossed more than $574.2 million domestically since its release on April 5.&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;still has $110 million to go to catch up with James Cameron’s&nbsp;Avatar: The Way of Water, which has grossed more than $684 million in the U.S. since its December release.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianbushard/2023/08/06/barbie-tops-1-billion-at-global-box-office/?sh=6c5fe75c7520">‘Barbie’ Tops $1 Billion At Global Box Office</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/08/13/barbie-and-oppenheimer-continue-box-office-dominance-for-fourth-week-raking-in-combined-525-million/?sh=65ef9f762019">&#8216;Barbie’ And &#8216;Oppenheimer&#8217; Continue Box Office Dominance For Fourth Week—Raking In Combined $52.5 Million</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2023/08/12/barbie-breaks-500-million-at-us-box-office-further-cementing-itself-as-summers-blockbuster/?sh=744fe19b43f9">‘Barbie’ Breaks $500 Million At U.S. Box Office—Further Cementing Itself As Summer’s Blockbuster</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)

New Barbie Movie Sparks Barbie-mania Across U.S.

End Of Barbiemania? ‘Blue Beetle’ Unseats ‘Barbie’ With $9.8 Million Opening

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



Barbie&nbsp;was pulled from theaters in Algeria this week, joining a growing list of countries that, despite the summer blockbuster’s widespread success, have banned the film because of its themes of gender and sexuality or because of the film’s alleged use of a controversial map. (Say what?)



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Algeria:&nbsp;Algeria’s Ministry of Culture and Arts notified cinemas in the cities of Algiers, Oram and Constantine earlier this week to “immediately” pull the movie, the Algerian news outlet 24H&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24hdz.com/le-film-barbie-interdit-en-salles-en-algerie/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;(a source confirmed the news to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/algeria-bans-barbie-movie-media-official-source-say-2023-08-14/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reuters</a>).



Kuwait:&nbsp;On Thursday, officials in Kuwait announced they were banning the film because it promoted “ideas and beliefs that are alien to the Kuwaiti society and public order,”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=3105733&amp;Language=en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to</a>&nbsp;a statement published by the state-run KUNA news agency. (The statement did not cite any specific scenes that Kuwaiti censors found objectionable.)



Vietnam:&nbsp;Before the film premiered, officials in Vietnam&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/07/03/barbie-movie-banned-in-vietnam-over-controversial-map/?sh=7ec28cfc4ba7">announced</a>&nbsp;they were banning&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;over a scene that included a map that appeared to show China’s contested territorial claims in the South China Sea—Warner Bros.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/07/07/warner-bros-defends-child-like-map-that-got-barbie-banned-in-vietnam/?sh=2702920437bd">disputed</a>&nbsp;the claim, describing the drawing as “child-like.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-contra">CONTRA</h2>



Before it was banned,&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;had sold out Algerian theaters every day since its July 19 release, the Algerian news outlet 24H&nbsp;<a href="https://www.24hdz.com/le-film-barbie-interdit-en-salles-en-algerie/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



It’s not uncommon for countries, particularly Gulf nations, to ban movies or TV shows because the content goes against certain religious beliefs. A number of countries in the Middle East, for example, have&nbsp;<a href="https://deadline.com/2022/05/everything-everywhere-all-once-banned-middle-east-1235016780/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">banned</a>&nbsp;films that include gay characters, such as&nbsp;Everything Everywhere All At Once, Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness, Eternals&nbsp;and&nbsp;West Side Story.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-we-don-t-know">WHAT WE DON’T KNOW</h2>



It’s unclear how many other countries may ban the box office hit.&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;is scheduled to premiere in theaters in Lebanon on August 31, but some officials have said they might follow the lead of other Middle Eastern countries and ban the movie from theaters. Lebanese culture minister Mohammad Mortada asked the interior ministry to ban&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;because he said it contradicts “values of faith and morality” and promotes “homosexuality and sexual transformation,” the Associated Press&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/mideast-barbie-movie-censorship-955390b933747bfc3f662022db2e4d9b" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>. Mortada also said&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;questioned the necessity of marriage and ridiculed the role of mothers, the&nbsp;New York Times&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/10/arts/barbie-ban-kuwait-lebanon.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



Barbie&nbsp;was nearly banned in the Philippines earlier this month. Following news of Vietnam’s decision to not air the film, officials in the Philippines launched a weeklong review of the film that included two review sessions and conversations among multiple government departments,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=741736454626335&amp;set=pcb.741736844626296" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to</a>&nbsp;a press release from the country’s Movie and Television Review and Classification Board. The board&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=741736454626335&amp;set=pcb.741736844626296" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">decided</a>&nbsp;the map included in the film did “not depict the ‘nine-dash line,’” a term used to describe China’s contested claims over the South China Sea, and instead the map “portrayed the route of the make-believe journey of Barbie.” In the statement, the board&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=741736454626335&amp;set=pcb.741736844626296" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">noted</a>&nbsp;it has previously sanctioned filmmakers and distributions for exhibiting the fictitious nine-dash line in their films.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-big-number">BIG NUMBER</h2>



$1,187,042,188. That’s how much money&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;has grossed worldwide since it premiered in mid-July,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1077904129/?ref_=bo_hm_RECENT_WEEKEND_WIDGET_1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">according to</a>&nbsp;Box Office Mojo. Domestically&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;has&nbsp;<a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1077904129/?ref_=bo_hm_RECENT_WEEKEND_WIDGET_1" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">earned</a>&nbsp;more than $526 million, making it the second-highest-grossing movie of the year&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2023/08/12/barbie-breaks-500-million-at-us-box-office-further-cementing-itself-as-summers-blockbuster/?sh=4ba5ebde43f9">behind</a>&nbsp;the&nbsp;Super Mario Bros. Movie.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Barbie&nbsp;has dominated the U.S. box office since it first opened in theaters in July and taken the top box office spot for the past four weeks. The film tells the live-action story of Mattel dolls Barbie and Ken. With an all-star cast—Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, Will Ferrell, Kate McKinnon, Ncuti Gatwa, Michael Cera, Simu Liu, America Ferrera and Dua Lipa—and pop soundtrack produced by Mark Ronson, the film’s release was long awaited by many.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2023/07/03/barbie-movie-banned-in-vietnam-over-controversial-map/?sh=7ec28cfc4ba7">‘Barbie’ Movie Banned In Vietnam Over Controversial Map</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/10/arts/barbie-ban-kuwait-lebanon.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Kuwait And Lebanon Look To Ban ‘Barbie’ For Moral Reasons</a>&nbsp;(New York Times)

The European Premiere of Barbie in London

‘Barbie’ Banned In Algeria—Here’s Where Else You Can’t See The Box Office Hit

Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer are bringing audiences back to the cinemas.



&nbsp;‘Barbenheimer’ fever is gripping South Africa too.



The word, coined by social media users days ahead of the simultaneous release dates of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, has turned the spotlight on the thumping return of the big screen, post-pandemic.



“The results for the opening weekend of Barbie and Oppenheimer were way beyond our forecasts and our expectations,” says Lynne Wylie, Chief Marketing Officer at Ster-Kinekor (network of movie theaters in South Africa), to FORBES AFRICA. “It was Ster-Kinekor’s biggest opening weekend by far in the post-Covid environment, and we are thrilled that more and more people are once again experiencing the joy of watching a film in a cinema.”



In the United States (US), ‘Barbenheimer’ generated more than $235.5 million in ticket sales, according to CNBC, on its opening weekend. Barbie smashed expectations by earning $155 million, becoming the biggest movie launch of the year and the biggest box office debut by a female director. Oppenheimer collected a reported $80.5 million, making it one of Nolan’s most-acclaimed and commercially successful films.



A full-fledged international box office phenomenon, according to Google Trends, interest in the two films also continues to soar in South Africa.



Despite being starkly different, with one being a sweetly subversive comedy starring Margot Robbie as the popular doll and the other with Cillian Murphy portraying the father of the atomic bomb, the two movies have managed to pull audiences in for an unlikely double feature.



“There’s something really fun about coming back [to the cinema], and I know our show is sold out,” Daniela Lamparelli, a member of the theater audience last weekend in Johannesburg watching Barbie first, followed by Oppenheimer, tells FORBES AFRICA. “It’s going be really fun to watch it and hear everyone’s reactions. It’s quite a nice experience to watch it in a cinema with lots of people. When cinemas are quite empty, you feel like watching movies at home.”



Much like the rest of the world, South Africa’s cinemas have struggled to get audiences back to theaters after the pandemic. According to a recent report in News24, cinema attendance at Ster-Kinekor was <a href="https://www.news24.com/news24/tech-and-trends/news/has-barbenheimer-fever-hit-south-africa-20230720">below 50%</a> of 2019 pre-pandemic levels until recently. Restoring a sense of normalcy is a mountainous endeavor, given factors such as the rise of streaming giants such as Netflix, Disney+, and Showmax.



The theatrical window of exclusivity, or the time frame between when a movie is shown in cinemas and when it becomes available on streaming platforms, has also shrunk significantly. Reportedly, toward the end of the 1990s, movies would have six-month runs at theaters before they were found on other platforms. Today, a movie can be released in cinemas and streaming services on the same day.



“The pandemic and lingering economic impact are still hard felt on South Africans’ pockets, and with cheaper streaming offerings, going to the movies has become more of a luxury than ever before,” Gabi Zietsman, a film critic, tells FORBES AFRICA. “They are only willing to shell out money for the big blockbusters or films that demand to be seen on a big screen. Otherwise, they’ll just wait for it to go on streaming and save their money.”



Wylie says one of the major benefits of cinema is that you get to see the big blockbusters first as they were meant to be seen, on the big screen, which is “something no streaming platform can offer”.



“Great movie experiences, like great moments in life, live large in our hearts and minds. Watching a film in a cinema is also an interruption-free experience – you are able to be completely absorbed in what is playing out on the screen for the duration of the film.”



Power outages, or what is known as load-shedding in South Africa, are also why cinema audiences are being affected. South Africa is experiencing daily power cuts reaching up to 10 hours. Audiences aren’t willing to travel to a theater if there’s a chance that their movie-going experience will be interrupted. With mobile data, they can binge-watch multiple shows and movies on streaming platforms to their hearts’ content.



“While load-shedding has impacted our cinemas and affected some of the screening timings, the fact that we have already installed generators at 34 out of our total 44 cinema complexes around the country ensures that people can always come and watch a movie,” counters Ster-Kinekor’s Wylie. “Twenty one of these sites also have uninterrupted power supply systems installed to enable a completely uninterrupted movie experience.”



Data from IMDbPro reveals that the number of Hollywood films being released has also decreased since the pandemic. For countries like India, with a booming and thriving Bollywood industry, less overseas content to show in cinemas isn’t a major concern. But for South Africa, a small number of films are being produced locally, making the nation dependent on the US for pulling audiences back in to theaters.



For now, the ‘Barbenheimer’ effect reigns.



“This phenomenon wasn’t created by studios – it was birthed by audiences and fans organically,” Zietsman says. “That doesn’t mean we won’t ever have such a cultural event at the movies again. Audiences just want something new and different that they can participate in, like dressing up, and if it’s also critically good, then you’ve got a winner. Oppenheimer had the prestige, Barbie had the brand recognition, and everyone involved in both was just passionate about their work, and that passion is infectious.”

People attend showings of the Barbie movie in Somerdale

Return Of The Big Screen: ‘Barbenheimer’ Spells Box-Office Glory In South Africa

She’s here, she’s there, she’s every pinkin’-where. With Margot Robbie’s summer blockbuster arriving in theaters and ubiquitous merchandise collaborations, the world’s favorite doll is about to launch the Mattel cinematic universe.



Last June, photographs of beach blonde Margot Robbie and bleach blonde Ryan Gosling, stars of the upcoming&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;movie, went viral after they were spotted filming a scene dressed as the world’s favorite doll and her feckless boyfriend Ken, decked out in matching ‘90s neon workout gear and bright yellow roller skates.



A year later, with the arrival of the&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;movie on July 21, superfans can now buy the exact gear they’ve been obsessing over. The $190 Barbie x Impala Rollerskates, are among more than 100 collaborations and branded partnerships parent company Mattel has signed to capitalize on the excitement for the Greta Gerwig-directed film, one of the tentpole movies of the summer.



Barbie is at “the beginning of yet another chapter for the evolution of the brand, which is now recognized as an idea,” Mattel President and COO Richard Dickson tells&nbsp;Forbes,&nbsp;while wearing a Barbie t-shirt. “Barbie has transcended from a doll into a franchise. The ability for us to extend and market the brand is far bigger than any one product itself.”



So if it seems that the world is turning pink lately—very, very pink—that is by design. There is everything from Barbie-branded Crocs, to hot pink luggage from BEIS and Barbie x Moon electric toothbrushes. Fans can shower with Barbie x Truly soap sets put on Barbie x OPI nail polish, slip into on Barbie bras from MeUndies and get dressed in Barbie x Gap clothing. They can listen to the film’s original soundtrack, which features new hits from Dua Lipa and Nicki Minaj–whose fans have famously been dubbed “Barbz.” They can even spend the night at&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonemelvin/2023/06/27/heres-everything-we-know-about-airbnbs-new-barbie-house-in-malibu/?sh=5ddba02c5475">Airbnb’s real-life Malibu DreamHouse</a>. (John Legend and Chrissy Teigen&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CuK5qoKSQ6G/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">already took</a>&nbsp;their family.)



Oh, and there are frozen treats from—of course—Pinkberry



The movie, which also stars Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, and Hari Nef as Barbies, Simu Liu, John Cena, and Kingsley Ben-Adair as additional Kens, and Will Ferrell, as a meta Mattel CEO, is&nbsp;<a href="https://deadline.com/2023/06/barbie-oppenheimer-box-office-projection-1235427370/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">expected to make</a>&nbsp;between $80 million and $100 million in its opening weekend. And AMC theaters announced that some 20,000 moviegoers have already purchased tickets for a cosmically curious opening day double feature of&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;and&nbsp;Oppenheimer, Christopher Nolan’s drama about the invention of the atomic bomb.



For a doll approaching retirement age—Barbie will turn 65 next year—she’s showing no signs of slowing down, despite a lengthy career as a fashion model, nurse, ballerina, Army medic, astronaut, paleontologist, dentist, florist, yoga teacher and President of the United States The dynamic dilettante did $1.7 billion in annual sales in 2021, a record high. That same year, Barbie&nbsp;<a href="https://corporate.mattel.com/news/barbie-named-2021-top-global-toy-property-of-the-year-per-npd" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">was named</a>&nbsp;the No. 1 toy in the world.



And that was before this summer’s Barbiemania.



<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>



Family Affair: Ruth Handler named famous creations after her daughter, Barbara, and son, Kenneth.MATTEL, INC.



Mattel was started in 1945 by Ruth Handler, her husband, Elliot, and Matt Matson. (The brand’s moniker was a portmanteau of the men’s first names.) While Elliot handled the design, Ruth was all business. “She was the chutzpah, she was the driving force behind the company,” Tanya Lee Stone, author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Good-Bad-Barbie-History-Impact/dp/0147516064" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Good, the Bad, and the Barbie </a>tells Forbes. “She was the reason they went from working out of their garage to being able to rent space.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1538031252.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-58845" width="770" height="511" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1538031252.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1538031252-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1538031252-768x511.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Cast and filmmakers of Barbie Movie. (Photo by Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images for Warner Bros.)</figcaption></figure></div>


As president of the company, Ruth was “the embodiment of her doll,” that “women can be anything,” adds Robin Gerber, author of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Barbie-Ruth-Worlds-Famous-Created/dp/0061341320/ref=asc_df_0061341320/?tag=hyprod-20&amp;linkCode=df0&amp;hvadid=343209923405&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=14326293869328454488&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=1018127&amp;hvtargid=pla-492352792520&amp;psc=1&amp;tag=&amp;ref=&amp;adgrpid=67797265663&amp;hvpone=&amp;hvptwo=&amp;hvadid=343209923405&amp;hvpos=&amp;hvnetw=g&amp;hvrand=14326293869328454488&amp;hvqmt=&amp;hvdev=c&amp;hvdvcmdl=&amp;hvlocint=&amp;hvlocphy=1018127&amp;hvtargid=pla-492352792520" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Barbie and Ruth: The Story of the World&#8217;s Most Famous Doll and the Woman Who Created Her</a>.&nbsp;“This woman was an entrepreneur, corporate leader, in an industry where there were no women at that level, at a time when women weren’t supposed to do that.”



Handler got the idea for Barbie when watching her daughter, Barbara, and her friends play with paper dolls, whose outfits and tabs were constantly tearing. Of particular fascination for Handler was that the girls weren’t pretending to be children or mothers with their creations, rather they pretended to be librarians and teachers. “It hit her that little girls just wanted to be big girls,” Gerber says. But adult dolls made for children to play with didn’t exist.



The inspiration for Barbie’s design came to Handler on a family trip to Lucerne, Switzerland, when she and Barbara spotted a doll in a toy store. Her name was Bild Lilli, and she was modeled after a gold-digging cartoon character in a local newspaper. Handler purchased three and started designing a wardrobe for her own incarnation of the doll. “She immediately got it—that you make this doll, and then you can make separate clothes,” says Gerber.


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img decoding="async" src="https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/64b197a7077db792fb534a0b/2019-Barbie1959Doll--1--removebg-preview/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&amp;width=96" alt="2019_Barbie1959Doll__1_-removebg-preview" width="-16" height="-25"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Serious Plastic: A mint condition Barbie from 1959 sells for more than $27,000.MATTEL, INC.</figcaption></figure></div>


“The goal for Ruth was to make a teeny-tiny mannequin and make it very easy for girls to be able to pop off the head and change the clothes without getting frustrated,” Stone adds. That way, “girls can just imagine being anything they want to be.”



Barbie debuted in 1959 at the American Toy Fair in New York City, but it wasn’t until children saw her first TV commercial later that year that the toy really took off. Some 300,000 dolls were sold in the first year, for $3 each (or about $31 in today’s dollars). Today, an original Barbie doll in mint condition sells for upwards of $27,000 and the range of contemporary Barbies spans from about $10.99 for Fashionista Barbie to a one-off doll created by Australian jewelry designer Stefano Canturi, which sold for $302,500 in 2012 (or about $400,000 now).


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://imageio.forbes.com/specials-images/imageserve/64b185562baa910e43de7b71/ken-doll-removebg-preview/0x0.jpg?format=jpg&amp;width=96" alt="ken_doll-removebg-preview" width="367" height="574"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Himbo: Ken was introduced in 1961. The most valuable are Dress Box Ken, released between 1963 and 1965.MATTEL, INC.</figcaption></figure></div>


Soon after Barbie’s arrival, the company was inundated with letters asking if she could have a boyfriend. In 1961, Ken—named after the Handlers’ son, Kenneth—debuted. (Kenneth Handler died at age 50 in 1994. Barbara Handler is now 82.)



“If you owned Mattel stock in the Sixties, you were getting double-digit returns every year,” Gerber says. But the next decade brought trouble for the Handlers. Ruth, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, resigned in 1975—three years before she and several other former Mattel executives&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/17/archives/4-exofficers-of-mattel-among-5-indicted-on-conspiracy-charges.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">indicted by the Securities and Exchange Commission</a>&nbsp;for making false financial statements. She eventually pleaded no contest.



After some lean years in the 1980s—during which Barbie found work as an aerobics instructor, cashier, travel agent and a veterinarian—another renaissance occurred. “It took 28 years to get Barbie to $430 million in sales and just three years to get her to $700 million,” John Amerman, Mattel’s chairman, told&nbsp;Forbes&nbsp;in 1991. The brand represented half of Mattel’s sales at the time.<a href="https://www.forbes.com/"></a>



In the 2000s, Barbie entered the digital era. Dickson oversaw the creation of Barbie Entertainment. Barbie’s first film, the animated feature&nbsp;Barbie In The Nutcracker, was released in 2001. Barbie.com, her first website, was also launched.



Dickson left Mattel in 2010 and rejoined in 2014 when it was facing one of its worst periods yet. Barbie had reached its lowest volume of sales in 25 years, with only $900 million. “One of the most shocking headlines when I first came back was [on] CNN—literally the headline was&nbsp;<a href="https://money.cnn.com/2015/04/16/investing/mattel-barbie-earnings-versus-hasbro/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">‘Is Barbie Dead?,’”</a>&nbsp;Dickson recalls. The beauty standard that Barbie represented for more than 50 years—thin, white, blonde—no longer resonated with consumers. “Her personification of perfection became out of date,” he says.



So Barbie needed a major image makeover. Mattel started with her skin tone and ethnicities. “The actual methodology behind doing it was not just introducing dolls with skin tones, but changing all the graphic identity of the brand,” says Dickson. Mattel’s packaging and commercial advertising was updated to reflect the new diverse range. And Barbie’s super unnatural body was reimagined for the 21st century—tall, petite and curvy versions of the doll were launched. But with Barbie being a different size, her clothes, her cars, her houses had to change too. “Everything had to be reshaped.”



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The&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;movie reflects the complicated relationship the audience has had with Handler’s 11.5-inch icon over the decades. “Greta Gerwig is an advocate for telling strong, female-led stories where women are celebrated,” says Dickson. “The Barbie brand is no exception, and shows Barbie is a very strong female protagonist in control of her own story. That wouldn’t have been served up or possible if we hadn’t done the incredible work prior.”



Or, as one of the film’s trailers proudly touts: “If you love Barbie…if you hate Barbie, this movie is for you.”



As Margot Robbie&nbsp;<a href="https://time.com/6289864/barbie-time-cover-story/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">told CEO Ynon Kreiz during production</a>: “If we don’t acknowledge certain things—if we don’t say it, someone else is going to say it.” Adds Dickson: “We were ready to feel comfortably uncomfortable.”



Deciding to make a&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;movie wasn’t simply a brand extension, it’s a longterm business strategy that will be played out again and again with the rest of Mattel’s portfolio, which includes some 400 toy brands.



And it’s not an entirely original playbook. Hasbro released a G.I. Joe movie in 2009. The first film,&nbsp;G.I. Joe: The Rise Of The Cobra, starring Channing Tatum, grossed $300 million worldwide. The sequel, which added Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Bruce Willis to the cast, did even better with $375 million.



So if Mattel aims to create the next Marvel Cinematic Universe, Barbie is its Iron Man. “We’ve got over 13 film projects in development. We have over 30 television shows in production,” Dickson says. The slate includes a Daniel Kaluuya-produced film for adults about Barney the purple dinosaur, a Hot Wheels movie produced by J.J. Abrams, and a Vin Diesel-led live-action take on Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.”


<div class="wp-block-image">
<figure class="aligncenter size-full is-resized"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" src="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1528502009.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-58847" width="810" height="540" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1528502009.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1528502009-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/GettyImages-1528502009-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Margot Robbie (R) and Ryan Gosling attend premiere of &#8216;Barbie&#8217; (Photo by Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>


The release of&nbsp;Barbie&nbsp;also comes at a time when Mattel’s balance sheet could use a boost. The company ended Q1 in April with $814.6 million in net sales, down 22% year-over-year. Barbie did $177 million in gross sales worldwide, down 44% from a year ago, but representing nearly 58% of Mattel&#8217;s gross sales for dolls overall. “We couldn&#8217;t be more confident and excited about the brand&#8217;s future,” Dickson said on a recent earnings call.



His positivity about the brand remains rosier than Barbie’s beloved pink. “We’re working with the best of the best in console gaming, in mobile gaming, in a variety of other digital experiences that put Barbie on the forefront,” Dickson says. Barbie is now on the blockchain and was the first toy brand to become an NFT. “We’re accepting crypto currency,” Dickson says. “Barbie is a canvas for artists and influencers and collaborations.”



And as she approaches 65 next year, Barbara Millicent Roberts’ heart is kept beating by the same spirit Ruth Handler instilled in her six decades ago.



“Barbie’s not just a toy,” Dickson says. “She’s a source for inspiration.”

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