When Hollywood wanted to make a movie about M&M’s

The crazy success of Barbie reminds THR of film projects on unlikely toys and brands…

Since Barbie has passed the billion dollar mark, all of Hollywood is wondering what lessons will be learned from this success. Will more female directors be offered blockbuster orders by big studios? To tell women’s stories about women? Or will Warner Bros, Universal, Disney and the others rather turn even more than before to brands, properties that are well integrated in the minds and daily lives of the public to make them available in the cinema?

The Hollywood Reporter warns against this kind of project, at a time when Mattel is taking advantage of this box to officially launch adaptations of Hot Wheels (with Bad Robots, the company of JJ Abrams) and Polly Pockets (with Lily Collins, the star ofEmily in Paris), other ranges of games that they have been selling for decades and which are a hit all over the world. Without forgetting the Onea famous card game which it is difficult to see at first sight how the concept could be declined on the big screen.

“Maybe Hollywood is smart enough, which is the funniest start in history, ironically comments an anonymous producer… But if anyone sees the success of Barbie and says to himself: ‘Do you know why this movie worked? It’s thanks to the toy.’, so he draws the wrong lessons.”

Another adds: “With these kinds of movies based on popular products, everyone has the best intentions up front, and then the rights holders start saying, ‘No, we can’t say/show that about our brand!’“
That said, on BarbieGreta Gerwig had a certain freedom, being able to speak clearly about feminism, capitalism, consumerism and patriarchy in the middle of her comedy. “They even made the boss of Mattel one of the villains in the movie, gets carried away the same anonymous. However, the result of this film is that now everyone loves Mattel!”

Ryan Gosling’s Ken has his doll (but no Mojo Dojo Casa House!)

THR then lists the difficulties in finding the right project, but also the right tone, the right balance to draw from it a work that makes sense and is not just a huge empty advertisement for the brand. Sometimes it works, like with The Lego Great Adventurein 2011, but often movies based on toys are rather hollow or 100% action-oriented, transformers has G.I. Joe.

The site specializing in behind-the-scenes Hollywood recalls that multiple projects are underway regarding the “IP” to be developed on the big screen, and this for several years for some: the rights of Magic 8 Balla black ball “Magic” supposed to predict things to the player who shakes it, have for example been bought by Blumhouse to produce a horrific production. A bit like Ouija (2014) ? We won’t know, since the project is still “in production”, but no longer within this studio, and could perfectly return in another form with other producers, from thriller to comedy to children’s film. Everything is possible !

The studios in fact regularly go over adaptation projects of this kind. So a Monopoly has been in the process of being adapted for more than a decade, under the successive supervision of several studios – the concept mocking Wall Street has particularly interested Ridley Scott. More recently the Masters of the Universe went from Sony to Netflix, who ended up dropping it despite investing $30 million in its development.

Monopoly, the film: the project is relaunched on the side of Hasbro and Lionsgate

It is in this context that THR mentions the remote possibility of making a film about M&M’s: “A few years ago, a film was pitched based on these candies, precisely inspired by their look in commercials where M&Ms are digitally animated, that they are humanized candies that talk. The idea was to engage a comedian like Will Arnett and another talent of his caliber.”

The Chocolate Covered Peanuts Movie Didn’t Finally See Them, But Figures Did Too “anthropomorphic”colorful and gifted with words that they have inspired an animated production for children: the emojisreleased by Sony in 2017.

Here is the trailer for Barbiewhich still topped the box office:

Barbie: Greta Gerwig’s film is not plastic (review)