This Barbie is a business decision
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 24 April 2023
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The new live-action Barbie movie is highly anticipated … among adults. Today on “Post Reports,” we unpack the business decisions behind Mattel’s move.
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Can nostalgia make the Barbie movie a win for Mattel? A few weeks ago, Warner Bros. dropped a full-length trailer for the highly anticipated film from Greta Gerwig and her co-writer and partner Noah Baumbach.
Since the trailer dropped, it has gone viral – among young adults – making business reporter Rachel Lerman wonder why a toy-maker is making a movie for grown-ups.
Rachel talked to industry analysts and Barbie fans about Mattel’s strategy and what this movie can tell us about the cultural moment we’re in.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi Barbie! |
| 0:01.0 | Hi, Ken! |
| 0:02.0 | Hi Barbie! |
| 0:03.0 | Hi Barbie! |
| 0:04.0 | Hi Barbie! |
| 0:05.0 | Hi Barbie! |
| 0:06.0 | Hi Barbie! |
| 0:07.0 | For the past couple of weeks, like much of the internet, I have been obsessed with the trailer |
| 0:20.0 | for the new Barbie movie, which is kind of weird if you think about it, because I am a childless |
| 0:26.0 | adult. |
| 0:27.0 | I had the same thought, because as soon as I saw the longer trailer that came out, I was |
| 0:33.5 | like, oh, wait, this movie is for me. |
| 0:36.2 | This is the post-business reporter Rachel Lerman. |
| 0:39.0 | She has been reporting on the forthcoming Barbie movie, and the business decisions behind |
| 0:43.8 | it. |
| 0:44.8 | And I do think that on its face, it seems kind of counterintuitive, right? |
| 0:47.9 | Because Mattel is selling Barbies for, you know, young kids, and this movie doesn't necessarily |
| 0:53.0 | seem geared toward young kids. |
| 0:55.0 | I'll beach off with you any day, Ken. |
| 0:57.0 | Anyone who wants to beach him off has to beach me off first. |
| 0:59.4 | I will beach both of you off at the same time. |
| 1:01.6 | Beach both off! |
... |
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