Take Note, Mattel – This Is How You Create A Successful MCU (Mattel Cinematic Universe)

Barbie is unstoppable! After breaking multiple records, including “biggest opening of 2023”, “biggest opening by a female director”, and “biggest opening week for a Warner Bros. movie”, it hit one billion dollars at the worldwide box office this weekend. Even before “Barbilion” became a thing, Mattel hinted that they wanted to create their own Mattel Cinematic Universe (MCU), including films about Polly Pocket, Chatty Catty and Betsy Wetsy and Thomas the Tank Engine. It will be hard to re-create the success formula of Barbie (maybe it’s not necessary), but if they want to do it successfully, they might have to check the original MCU (Marvel Cinematic Universe). Whether you love or hate Marvel, they created one of the most famous fictional cinematic universes. So Mattel, if you want to do the same, we suggest you take note cause we’re going to tell you how they did it!

Plan ahead but not from the beginning

To create a cinematic universe, you must plan ahead but not straight from the beginning. The first few films of a potential franchise must be strong enough to stand on their own feet. They need to convince investors and production companies that the audience wants more of those movies. No matter how far along in the universe you’re crafting, you need to put the movie you’re making before the franchise. Every movie must be treated as one-of-a-kind, not like a feature that’s part of the universe. Feige said they wanted ‘to make a great Iron Man movie. We want to make a great Thor movie. We want to make a great Cap movie.’

That’s exactly how they did it and should be done. If you already commit to an X amount of films about, let’s say, the Mattel toys, then the quality of the movies might decrease because you already know that you will have many films lined up. That’s not a great approach because the audience knows when budget, greed and the company’s needs are put above creating a great movie. Prove that you can make a few successful movies with a similar topic with the same successful approach, and your universe will probably follow automatically.

Dare to experiment

During her press tour, Barbie director Greta Gerwig mentioned that she wanted to include a giant fart opera sequence in the movie. However, the test audience didn’t well-received the scene, so she left it out. While she had to cut that scene, being willing to experiment is precisely what a cinematic universe needs. Think about when Marvel announced the first Guardians of the Galaxy film. The fans thought it was an odd choice, and even if you haven’t read the comics, a movie in which Bradley Cooper voices a racoon and Vin Diesel plays a tree doesn’t sound that intriguing. However, we all know how great the Guardians films are. Imagine what would have happened if Marvel had played it safe.

While Mattel and Gerwig already made some bold choices in Barbie, think of the sliver of darkness and Ken turning out to be a bit of a jerk; the director taking on the following toy must keep taking risks. We don’t say you must turn Polly Pocket into a silent assassin or a movie about Thomas the Tank Engine into The Commuter 2, but experimenting is important to keep your franchise fresh, alive and new. Don’t be afraid to fail and experiment! Just make sure you don’t fail too often.

Be willing to shake things up

We’re sure some of you went into Barbie and thought ‘, Yes, Ken will indeed just be Ken, eye candy and Barbie’s boyfriend. It’s the story we’ve told ourselves since we started playing with the dolls. Gerwig decided to shake things up by putting Barbie and Ken opposite each other! It reminded us of when the MCU decided to place Iron Man and Captain America against each other in Captain America: Civil War. The relationships between Tony Stark and Steve Rogers and everything we thought we knew about the characters were tested during that movie. While we could relate to both sides of the team, we unintentionally had to pick one side.

Just like in Barbie. You either root for Ken so that he eventually can keep his Mojo Dojo Casa House, or you support Barbie in her fight to restore the pink world. Shifting relationships and the war between two strong figures (in the case of Marvel, even one robotic) can easily be the perfect starting point for the film about the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. While that Mattel toy briefly appeared in Toy Story, the robot is getting its movie, starring and produced by Vin Diesel. It’s currently in development and is, according to the rumours, a sci-fi movie involving a massive war machine.

The endeavour of thousands of highly talented people

Creating your universe is much more complex than what we just described. It takes the effort of thousands of actors, directors, writers, producers, set designers, graphics designers,  costume makers, etc., to create and maintain a successful franchise. Making a film is never a risk-free endeavour. However, you’ll go a long way when you put the people’s talent, passion for film and what the audience wants before the need to create a cinematic franchise and make millions!