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Mattel Films

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Mattel Films
FormerlyPlayground Productions (2013–2016)
Company typeDivision
IndustryEntertainment
FoundedSeptember 2018; 5 years ago (2018-09)
Headquarters
El Segundo, California
,
United States
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Robbie Brenner (executive producer)
OwnerMattel, Inc.
Number of employees
5 (2019)[1]

Mattel Films (formerly Mattel Playground Productions (PGP), or commonly Playground Productions) is a division of Mattel. As Playground Productions, it was first part of Mattel Global Brands.[2] It was later transferred to Mattel Creations, itself a division of Mattel, Inc.[3] on September 6, 2018, the division was reformed as Mattel Films.[4]

History

Playground Productions

In October 2013, Mattel Playground Productions was launched by Mattel as its new in-house film studio to handle multi-media production, films, TV shows, web series, live events and games, for Mattel's brands. The intent was to centralize Mattel's disjointed content productions. Its first animated project is “Team Hot Wheels: The Origin of Awesome”. Mattel has under development a live-action Hot Wheels movie at Legendary Entertainment and Universal Studios, a Masters of the Universe and a Barbie film at Columbia Pictures, a Monster High feature with Universal and a Max Steel film with Dolphin Entertainment. Playground Productions was planned to set up three-year storytelling plans that incorporate every part of the Mattel company from toy designers to consumer products and marketing.[5] David Voss was appointed as Senior Vice President of Playground Productions.[5][6]

With WWE in March 2014, Playground launched an online short form series, WWE Slam City, to go along with the toy line.[7] The series was picked up by Nicktoons’ NickSports programming block starting October 22, 2014.[8]

Voss left the division in January 2016 for subscription service, Loot Crate.[9] In March 2016, PGP was placed within Mattel Creations along with the other two Mattel content production units.[3] After failure of the Max Steel movie in 2016, Playground Productions was absorbed into Mattel Creations.[10]

Current formation

On September 6, 2018, Mattel announced the launch of a film division, Mattel Films, that will make movies based on the company’s toy brands. Robbie Brenner was appointed to head the division as executive producer and will report directly to the CEO.[4][11] The revived division's first two projects are expect to be Barbie and Masters of the Universe films.[12] In early January 2019, Mattel closed the deal with Margot Robbie to star in the Barbie film and Warner and Robbie's production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, to co-produce the film.[13] Mattel Films and Sony revive Master of the Universe film development in January 2019 with many of the prior attempt's director and producers while bringing on board different writers, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway.[14]

Production

Title Year(s) Type Production Unit Production
partner(s) 		Distributor Notes
Team Hot Wheels June 7, 2014 Animated Playground Productions Mercury Filmworks
Titmouse, Inc. 		digital platforms
  • 22-minute origin story (spring)[6]
  • 11 two-minute shorts (summer)
  • 74-minute direct-to-video film (fall)
WWE Slam City March 17, 2014 Stop motion Playground Productions[7] Stoopid Buddy Stoodios[8] digital platform[7]
Nicktoons (NickSports)[8] 		26-episode two-minute shorts series[7]
Ever After High[15] 2014 Legacy Day animated special Playground Productions Netflix
True Hearts Day 22-minute webisode special Nickelodeon
Thronecoming TV special 44-minute
Fairy tale web series EverAfterHigh.com 22 two-minute webisodes
Max Steel August 26, 2016[16] Live action film Playground Productions Dolphin Entertainment
Ingenious Media 		Open Road Films[6]
Monster High: Great Scarrier Reef February 12, 2017 CGI-animated film Playground Productions
DHX Media Vancouver
  • Cartoon Network (LatAm)
 61 minutes, Monster High (film series) [citation needed]

Upcoming

Barbie [to be determined] Cgi/Live-action film Mattel Films
  • LuckyChap Entertainment
 Warner Bros. Pictures [13]
Masters of the Universe [to be determined] Sony Pictures Releasing
Hot Wheels TBD Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures [17]
American Girl United Artists Releasing [18]
The View-Master Movie Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer [19]
Untitled

Magic 8 Ball
Film

Blumhouse Productions Universal Pictures [20]
Barney’s Wishes Adventure 59%

Valparaiso Pictures Hit Entertainment

Universal Pictures

[21]
Untitled Major Matt Mason film Paramount Pictures [22]

References

  1. ^ Kit, Borys (February 28, 2019). "Magic 8 Ball, the Movie? Mattel's New Film Chief on Adapting Toys and Why Barbie Was "Ahead of Her Time"". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 11, 2019.
  2. ^ Goldman Getzler, Wendy (October 16, 2013). "With profits up, Mattel launches in-house studio Playground Productions". Kidscreen. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  3. ^ a b Tartaglione, Nancy (March 31, 2016). "Mattel Creations Formed To Centralize Toy Giant's Theatrical, TV & Digital Content". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Business Media, LLC. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  4. ^ a b Ng, David. "Mattel creates new film division to turn toys into movies". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  5. ^ a b Graser, Marc (November 5, 2013). "Mattel's Bold Plan to Take Control Back From Hollywood". Variety. Retrieved May 7, 2014.
  6. ^ a b c Graser, Marc (October 15, 2013). "Mattel to Create Original Entertainment Through Playground Productions Banner". Variety. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  7. ^ a b c d Goldman Getzler, Wendy (17 March 2014). "Mattel and WWE producing 26-episode web series for kids". StreamDaily. Brunico Communications Ltd. Kidscreen. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
  8. ^ a b c Dickson, Jeremy (October 22, 2014). "Nickelodeon takes WWE Slam City from web to TV". Kidscreen. Brunico Communications Ltd. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
  9. ^ Castleman, Lana (March 31, 2016). "Mattel centralizes content output in new division". Kidscreen. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
  10. ^ Thompson, Luke Y. (September 7, 2018). "Why Mattel's Latest Movie Studio Announcement Doesn't Impress". Forbes. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  11. ^ Ziobro, Paul (2018-09-06). "Mattel, After Years Toying With Big Screen, Creates Film Division". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2018-09-07.
  12. ^ Townsend, Matthew (September 6, 2018). "Mattel's New CEO Starts Movie Unit to Jump-Start Film Franchises". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  13. ^ a b Kroll, Justin (January 8, 2019). "Margot Robbie's 'Barbie' Film Moves Ahead as Warner Bros. Closes Deal With Mattel". Variety. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
  14. ^ Kroll, Justin (January 11, 2019). "Sony and Mattel Films Tap 'Men in Black' Writers on 'Masters of the Universe' Reboot". Variety. Retrieved January 11, 2019.
  15. ^ Rusak, Gary (April 3, 2014). "Mattel plays around with digital distribution strategies". StreamDaily. Brunico Communications Ltd. iKids. Retrieved December 16, 2016.
  16. ^ "Robert De Niro Boxing Movie 'Hands of Stone' Set for August Release". Variety.com. Retrieved April 2, 2016.
  17. ^ Kroll, Justin (January 30, 2019). "'Hot Wheels' Live-Action Movie in the Works With Mattel, Warner Bros. (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety.
  18. ^ Kroll, Justin; Kroll, Justin (February 15, 2019). "'American Girl' Live-Action Movie in the Works With Mattel and MGM". Variety. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  19. ^ Evans, Greg (February 27, 2019). "Mattel & MGM Partner For Movie Based On View-Master Classic Toy". Deadline. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  20. ^ McNary, Dave (June 4, 2019). "Magic 8 Ball Movie in Development at Blumhouse, Mattel". Variety. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
  21. ^ Kroll, Justin (October 18, 2019). "Barney the Dinosaur Movie in the Works From Mattel Films and Daniel Kaluuya". Variety. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  22. ^ Donnelly, Matt (September 7, 2019). "Tom Hanks, Akiva Goldsman Set Live Action Mattel Adaptation 'Major Matt Mason' at Paramount". Variety. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
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