With Barbie having made the 2023 box office into her Dream House, Mattel is looking back into the toy box for its next blockbuster. The toymaker is now set to adapt its popular American Girl doll line into a Paramount feature. Deadline reports that an American Girl film is in the works, with Lindsey Anderson Beer set to write and produce. Anderson Beer is coming off her directorial debut, last year’s horror prequel Pet Sematary: Bloodlines; she also wrote Sierra Burgess is a Loser and created the TV series The Magic Order.
Says Beer, “Growing up, my sister and I were American Girl girls. I had Kirsten, and she had Molly. They didn’t feel like dolls to play with, rather real people whose worlds we got to imagine ourselves in. They are historically accurate toys and accessories that feature elaborate and immersive backstories uniquely suited to bring to screen.” Originally introduced in 1986 by the Pleasant Company, American Girl was purchased by toy giant Mattel in 1998 for $700 million USD; it grossed $109 million for Mattel in 2022 alone.
What Is ‘American Girl’?
A line of 18-inch dolls with brushable hair and a variety of period-accurate outfits, the American Girl dolls originally featured girls drawn from across American history, like turn-of-the-century orphan Samantha Parkington and Depression-era youngster Kit Kittredge. The line eventually moved into more contemporary characters and also allowed fans to personalize and customize their own dolls at American Girl‘s chain of retail outlets.
The upcoming film won’t be the toy line’s first foray into the world of multimedia. Starting in 2004, Julia Roberts produced a number of films based on American Girl characters. One, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (starring Abigail Breslin in the title role) merited a theatrical release, while other entries, like Samantha: An American Girl Holiday (with AnnaSophia Robb), Felicity: An American Girl Adventure (with Shailene Woodley), and An American Girl: Grace Stirs Up Success (with Olivia Rodrigo) went direct-to-video. Last year, two more specials based on the toy line were greenlit at Max. Plus, with Barbie on the horizon, Saturday Night Live made light of a possible American Girl movie earlier this year with guest host Ana De Armas.
American Girl joins a whole toy aisle’s worth of Mattel projects in the works. Hot on the high heels of Barbie‘s success, Mattel announced several films based on their properties, including J.J. Abrams‘ Hot Wheels, Major Matt Mason (set to star Tom Hanks), and Vin Diesel‘s Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots.
An American Girl movie, written and produced by Lindsey Anderson Beer, is in the works; no release date has yet been announced.
via Collider