Margot Robbie to play Barbie in doll's first live-action film

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Australian actress Margot Robbie is to play Barbie in the first live-action feature movie about the iconic and controversial doll, who has enjoyed multiple careers in her 60-year lifetime.

Toymaker Mattel and movie studio Warner Bros on Tuesday announced they were partnering to make the film, which will star the Oscar-nominated actress. Robbie, 28, will also co-produce the film, the companies said in a statement

No plot, title or release date was announced for the film, which comes 60 years after the adult-figured Barbie fashion doll was launched in March 1959.

Robbie, who was Oscar-nominated for her starring role in the 2017 ice-skating movie “I, Tonya” and who appeared in the 2016 superhero movie “Suicide Squad,” said she hoped the film would “have a tremendously positive impact on children and audiences worldwide.”

“Barbie has empowered kids to imagine themselves in aspirational roles from a princess to president,” the actress said in a statement.

Barbie has adopted more than 200 careers in her lifetime, including robotics engineer, astronaut and teacher.

She is the best-known doll in the world and a cultural icon celebrated by the likes of Andy Warhol, the Paris Louvre museum, and the 1997 satirical song “Barbie Girl” by Scandinavian pop group Aqua.

But critics said her curvy body promoted an unrealistic image for young girls, and sales began dropping in 2014, leading California-based Mattel to add a wider variety of skin tones, body shapes, hijab-wearing dolls and science kits to make the products more educational.

The live-action Barbie film is the first venture from the recently established Mattel Films unit set up in September to develop the franchise of Barbie and other toys, such as Hot Wheels and American Girl.

Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Leslie Adler

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LOOK: Mattel releases new Filipina Barbie

MANILA – A new Filipina Barbie doll has been released by Mattel as part of its Global Glamour collection.

Only 4,400 units of the Mutya Barbie were released last February 2. The Filipina doll has tanned skin and black hair, and wears a terno inspired by the sampaguita flower and the sun icon from the Philippine flag.

For accessories, the Mutya Barbie has golden-tone earrings, a necklace, a bracelet and a golden lace fabric fan.

“Mutya means pearl or beauty or muse; it’s a girl’s name, and is also used in the titles of pageants in the Philippines,” said designer Carlyle Nuera. “Mutya Barbie will have the Kira face sculpt. I know a lot of collectors have a lot of love and nostalgia for that face sculpt, as do I, since that was a face sculpt I grew up with!”

“Her organza overdress is a take on the terno, with the unmistakable butterfly sleeves. The organza’s print references textiles of the different tribes in the Philippines as well as the sun from the flag. The embroidery on the hem is inspired by the sampaguita, a jasmine flower that is the national flower of the Philippines,” Nuera added.

The Mutya Barbie is available online for $100, with collectors allowed to order only up to five dolls.

Other dolls included in Mattel’s Global Glamour Collection include the Tribal Beauty, which wears a feathered midriff top, and Venetian Muse, which dons a black ball gown.

A number of Filipina Barbie dolls have been released over the years, with inspirations from Santacruzan, ethnic groups, weddings and traditions in the country.

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Review: 'Annabelle' is distressingly diabolical

We have met the creepy-looking vintage doll Annabelle before in last year's excellent and very memorable horror film "The Conjuring." She was just the front act there, showing up only at the pre-opening credits sequence. This year, she gets a film all her own. We now get to know Annabelle more and learn how she became demonically possessed.

The setting of this film is in the 1960s in a California suburb. Young couple John and Mia are expecting their first child. One day, John surprises Mia, who was a vintage doll collector, with a huge antique doll with painted ivory face and wearing a white satin dress adorned by a red bow. It just so happened that same night, crazy satanic cultists attack their home and there was resulting bloodshed. Since that night, there was no more peace in John and Mia's household, especially after she gives birth to their daughter, Leah.


A big part of why "Annabelle" worked as a horror film is the effective lead performance of coincidentally-named actress Annabelle Wallis as Mia. The character's name Mia, I am guessing, is a tribute to Mia Farrow, who was the star of a horror classic of the 1960s, "Rosemary's Baby." The stroller Mia uses for Leah looked very much like Rosemary's stroller, which is seen in posters of that old film. Ms. Wallis has an elegant beauty and her acting was sympathetic without becoming cheesy.

Ward Horton did well as Mia's husband John. He is a medical student, which gives him a convenient excuse to be a skeptic and always away during the night, leaving Mia alone in the house. Veteran actress Alfre Woodard is the only familiar face in the cast, and she plays their helpful neighbor Evelyn. Her story arc though was disappointing, and may be the only really negative thing I can say about this film.

John R. Leonetti, the cinematographer of "Insidious 1 & 2" and "The Conjuring," makes a respectable directorial debut with "Annabelle." He learned very well from his previous director James Wan, who sits as producer of this film. You can see that Leonetti has the eye for the perfect views to create the most effective suspense and surprise.

I liked the throwback look of this film, with its faded color palette and meticulous production design. The architecture, interior design, fashion, hairstyles, television shows, pop music all captured the era so well. Even the look of the cute baby Leah looked vintage, like the Gerber Baby. The limitation of technology also contributed to the helplessness factor.

I liked the camera angles that give you a point of view such that you too do not know what will happen next. The suspense could be so intense with the excellent editing and splicing of scenes accompanied by a swelling crescendo of music. There was that tense sequence with the popcorn, the sewing machine and the tv. There was also that thrilling sequence with the elevator. The timing for the jump scares was effective most of the time, even if you were sort of predicting it to happen already.

This is a film which may divide audiences as to whether it could match the audacity of "Insidious" or "The Conjuring." Frankly, it does not. But as it is, I liked "Annabelle" more than I thought I would. I was expecting the worst, since I hated how the Annabelle doll looked and I can't imagine anyone wanting a doll like it in their house. However, the film managed to transcend that limitation and actually create genuine scares that worked. 7/10.


This review was originally published in the author's blog, "Fred Said."

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Barbie stirs up frenzy with swimsuit issue debut

WASHINGTON - Barbie has been many things in her life: A doctor. A paleontologist. An astronaut. A cheerleader. A race car driver. A candidate for the presidency of the United States.

Now, on the threshold of her 55th birthday, the world's most famous doll is stirring up a social media frenzy with her debut in Sports Illustrated's 50th anniversary swimsuit edition.

In a tie-in with toymaker Mattel, the top-selling US sports weekly has cast the leggy -- if anatomically impossible -- all-American doll on a mock cover, sporting a black and white one-piece reminiscent of the one she wore when introduced in 1959.

"The Doll that Started it All," reads the headline on the cover, being wrapped around some issues of the magazine. The hashtag #unapologetic features in the joint marketing campaign, which will also include ads in the magazine.

"From its earliest days, Swimsuit has delivered a message of empowerment, strength and beauty," said M.J. Day, the Sports Illustrated senior editor responsible for the iconic and highly lucrative special edition.

"And we are delighted that Barbie is celebrating those core values in such a unique manner," she said in a statement.

The swimsuit issue comes out Tuesday with bikini-clad Chrissy Teigen, Nina Agdal and Lily Aldridge on the cover, posing on a sun-kissed tropical beach, smiling back at the camera, toned buttocks well exposed.

But it's Barbie -- or more precisely the notion of giving her top billing in a magazine that pitches sun, sea and sex to impressionable American males in the dead of winter -- that has fired up the blogosphere.

"This is what is known as obvious trolling," wrote Mary Elizabeth Williams at Salon.com.

"You plan on getting mad again this year about hot, barely clothed women in a sports magazine again this year, world? Here. Here's a plastic one ... a freaking mass-produced doll."

"Just as the swimsuit issue isn't for the kids, Barbie isn't for the grown-ups either," added Eve Vawter, editor of Mommyish.com.

"Barbie is no longer just a doll. She is a sex doll. Think about that the next time your daughter wants one in the toy aisle."

- Barbie losing her mojo? -

Alas, on the eve of the New York Toy Show, and hard on the heels of New York fashion week, Barbie is grappling with the middle-aged fear that she's no longer hot stuff.

Publicly listed Mattel revealed in January that worldwide gross sales of its Barbie products fell six percent last year, and three percent in 2012, putting a drag on the profitability of the world's biggest toy manufacturer.

"We just didn't sell enough Barbie dolls," said Mattel chief executive Bryan Stockton in a conference call with financial analysts, although its other doll lines such as Monster High are faring better.

(Sports Illustrated launched the swimsuit edition in 1964 to prop up circulation between the American football and baseball seasons. Now a stand-alone product, it is the best-selling of all Time Inc. titles.)

Barbie -- whose brand is valued at $3 million, a tad more than Oprah Winfrey's estimated worth -- is no stranger to controversy.

She's regularly been faulted in the past for setting an unrealistic example for young girls with her impossibly lithe figure, fabulous wardrobe and storybook romance with dashing boyfriend Ken.

If 11.5-inch (29-centimeter) Barbie was a full-grown American woman, she'd have a 32-inch bust, a 16-inch waist and 29-inch hips, as well as a child's size three foot, according to Rehabs.com, a website that addresses eating disorders.

Lindsey Feitz, who lectures on gender and women's studies at the University of Denver in Colorado, considered it "ethically dubious" to use a girl's doll to sexualize girlhood in a magazine seen mainly by men.

"We've evolved from the ink drawings of pin-ups in the 1940s to chronic Photoshopping and digital body alterations of today's cover models," Feitz told AFP by email.

"And now the model has disappeared and been replaced with a plastic representation of a sexy girl/woman. It's ironic."

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com