Barbie (film)

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the 2023 live-action film. For the animated Barbie films, see List of Barbie animated
films.

Barbie

In the sky, a large styled pink "B" with Margot Robbie as Barbie sitting holding out her right arm and Ken
lying down in an angle with his head resting on his right clenched hand. A tagline reads: "She's
everything. He's just Ken."

Theatrical release poster

Directed by Greta Gerwig

Written by

Greta Gerwig

Noah Baumbach

Based on Barbie

by Mattel

Produced by

David Heyman

Margot Robbie

Tom Ackerley

Robbie Brenner

Starring
Margot Robbie

Ryan Gosling

America Ferrera

Kate McKinnon

Michael Cera

Issa Rae

Rhea Perlman

Will Ferrell

Cinematography Rodrigo Prieto

Edited by Nick Houy

Music by

Mark Ronson

Andrew Wyatt

Production

companies

Heyday Films

LuckyChap Entertainment

NB/GG Pictures

Mattel Films

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

Release dates

July 9, 2023 (Shrine Auditorium)

July 21, 2023 (United States)

Running time 114 minutes[1]

CountryUnited States

Language English

Budget $128–145 million[2][3]

Box office $774.5 million[4][5]

Barbie is a 2023 American fantasy comedy film directed by Greta Gerwig, who also wrote it with Noah
Baumbach.[6] Produced as a part of Mattel's Barbie fashion dolls and media franchise, it is the first live-
action Barbie film after numerous computer-animated direct-to-video and streaming television films. The
film follows Barbie (Margot Robbie) and Ken (Ryan Gosling) on a journey of self-discovery following an
existential crisis. It features an ensemble cast, including America Ferrera, Kate McKinnon, Issa Rae, Rhea
Perlman, and Will Ferrell.

A live-action Barbie film was announced in September 2009 by Universal Pictures with Laurence Mark
producing. Development began in April 2014, when Sony Pictures acquired the film rights. Following
multiple writer and director changes and the casting of Amy Schumer and later Anne Hathaway as
Barbie, the rights were transferred to Warner Bros. Pictures in October 2018. Robbie was cast in 2019,
and Gerwig was announced as director and co-writer with Baumbach in 2021. The rest of the cast were
announced in early 2022. Filming took place primarily at Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, in England
and on the Venice Beach Skatepark in Los Angeles from March to July 2022.

Barbie premiered at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles on July 9, 2023, and was theatrically released
in the United States on July 21, 2023, by Warner Bros. Pictures. Its simultaneous release with
Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer led to the "Barbenheimer" phenomenon on social media, which
encouraged audiences to see both films as a double feature. The film received mostly positive reviews
from critics and has grossed over $774 million worldwide, becoming the third-highest grossing film of
2023.

Plot

Stereotypical Barbie ("Barbie") and a wide range of fellow Barbies all reside in Barbieland, a matriarchal
society where women are self-confident, self-sufficient, and successful. While their Ken counterparts
spend their days engaging in recreational activities at the beach, the Barbies hold all important job
positions such as doctors, lawyers, and politicians. Beach Ken ("Ken") is only happy when he is with
Barbie and seeks a closer relationship, but Barbie rebuffs him in favor of independence and female
friendships.

During a dance party, Barbie is suddenly stricken with worries about mortality. The next day, she finds
she can no longer complete her usual routine and discovers her feet have gone flat and she has cellulite.
Weird Barbie, a wise but disfigured outcast, tells her that to cure her affliction, she must travel into the
real world and find the child playing with her. On her way to the real world, Barbie finds Ken stowed
away in her convertible, and reluctantly allows him to join her.

Arriving at Venice Beach, the two cause multiple antics, alarming the Mattel CEO, who orders their
capture. Barbie tracks down her owner, a tween girl named Sasha, who criticizes her for encouraging
unrealistic beauty standards. Distraught, Barbie discovers that Gloria, a Mattel employee and Sasha's
mother, is the catalyst of her existential crisis. Gloria began to play with Sasha's old Barbie toys while
experiencing her own identity crisis, inadvertently transferring her concerns to Barbie. Mattel attempts
to put Barbie in a toy box for remanufacturing, but she escapes with Gloria and Sasha's help, and the
three travel to Barbieland, with the Mattel CEO and high-ranking executives in pursuit.

Meanwhile, Ken learns about the patriarchal system, and feels respected and accepted for the first time.
Returning to Barbieland, he persuades the other Kens to take over, and the Barbies are indoctrinated
into submissive roles, such as maids, housewives, and agreeable girlfriends. Barbie arrives and tries to
convince Ken and the Barbies to return to the way things were, only to be rebuffed. She becomes
depressed, but Gloria gives an inspirational speech about society's conflicting expectations of women,
restoring Barbie's self-confidence.

With the assistance of Sasha, Weird Barbie, Allan, and other discontinued dolls, Gloria uses her
messagings on all the Barbies to bring them out of their subordinate behaviors. The restored Barbies
then manipulate the Kens to fight amongst themselves and be distracted from altering the constitution
to enshrine male superiority, while the Barbies regain their positions of power. In the process, they also
realize the error of their previous societal system, and decide to make some changes in Barbieland,
including better treatment for the Kens and all outcast dolls.

Barbie and Ken apologize to each other and acknowledge their failings. Ken bemoans that he has no
identity or purpose without Barbie, to which Barbie encourages him to find an autonomous identity.
Barbie, who remains unsure of her own purpose and identity, meets with the spirit of Mattel co-founder
Ruth Handler, who explains that Barbie's story has no set ending and her ever-evolving history surpasses
that of her roots.

After the Barbies, Kens, and Mattel executives bid Barbie goodbye, she decides to become human and
return to the real world. Some time later, Gloria, her husband, and Sasha take Barbie, now going by the
name "Barbara Handler", to her first gynecological appointment.

Cast

Margot Robbie at the 2016 San Diego Comic Con International in San Diego, California.

Ryan Gosling at the 2017 San Diego Comic Con International in San Diego, California.

Margot Robbie (left) and Ryan Gosling (right) portray Barbie and Ken.

Margot Robbie as Barbie, often referred to as "Stereotypical Barbie"[7][8]

Different variations of Barbie played by:

Kate McKinnon as Weird Barbie[9][10]

Issa Rae as President Barbie[11][10]

Alexandra Shipp as Writer Barbie[12][10]

Emma Mackey as Physicist Barbie[13][10]

Hari Nef as Dr. Barbie[10]

Sharon Rooney as Lawyer Barbie[11]

Ana Cruz Kayne as Judge Barbie[11][10]

Ritu Arya as Journalist Barbie[11][10]

Dua Lipa as the Mermaid Barbies[14][10]

Nicola Coughlan as Diplomat Barbie[11][10]

Mette Narrative as Barbie Video Girl

Marisa Abela as Teen Talk Barbie[15]

Lucy Boynton as Proust Barbie

Ryan Gosling as Ken, often referred to as "Beach Ken"[16]

Different variations of Ken played by:

Simu Liu as Tourist Ken[17][18][10]

Kingsley Ben-Adir as Basketball Ken[11]

Scott Evans as Stereotypical Ken[11]

Ncuti Gatwa as Artist Ken[17][11]

John Cena as Kenmaid, a merman Ken[19][20]

Rob Brydon as Sugar Daddy Ken[11]

Tom Stourton as Earring Magic Ken

America Ferrera as Gloria, a Mattel employee who helps Barbie in the real world[21]

Michael Cera as Allan[22]

Ariana Greenblatt as Sasha, Gloria's daughter[23][24]

Genvieve Toussaint as young Sasha

Rhea Perlman as the spirit of Ruth Handler, the co-founder of Mattel[3]

Helen Mirren as the narrator[25]

Will Ferrell as the CEO of Mattel[26]

Connor Swindells as Aaron Dinkins, a Mattel employee

Jamie Demetriou as the CFO of Mattel

Emerald Fennell as Midge[27]

Erica Ford as Skipper[28]

Hannah Khalique-Brown as "Growing Up" Skipper[29]

Ann Roth as the woman on the bench[30]

Ryan Piers Williams as Gloria's husband

Production

Development

Development on a film based on the Barbie toy line began in September 2009, when it was announced
that Mattel had signed a partnership to develop the project with Universal Pictures and with Laurence
Mark as producer, but nothing came to fruition.[31] In April 2014, Mattel teamed with Sony Pictures to
produce the film, which would have Jenny Bicks writing the screenplay and Laurie MacDonald and
Walter F. Parkes producing through the Parkes+MacDonald Image Nation banner they created. Filming at
the time was anticipated to begin by the end of the year.[32] In March 2015, Diablo Cody was brought
onto the project to rewrite the screenplay, and Amy Pascal joined the producing team.[33] Sony Pictures
would again have rewrites done to the screenplay later that year, hiring Lindsey Beer, Bert V. Royal, and
Hillary Winston to write separate drafts.[34]

In December 2016, Amy Schumer entered negotiations to star in the title role with Winston's screenplay;
Schumer helped rewrite the script with her sister, Kim Caramele.[35] In March 2017, Schumer exited
negotiations, blaming scheduling conflicts with the planned June 2017 filming start; in 2023 she revealed
she left the project due to creative differences with the film's producers at the time.[36][37] That July,
Anne Hathaway was under consideration for the title role, with Sony Pictures hiring Olivia Milch to
rewrite the screenplay and approaching Alethea Jones to direct as a means to interest Hathaway into
signing on.[38] Jones was attached to direct by March 2018.[39]