The boss of toy company Mattel would like Barbie to be the next Iron Man. That's because Ynon Kreiz aspires to create a "Mattel universe", he tells me - emulating the success of the Marvel universe, which has spawned dozens of hit films for Disney from a cast of comic-book characters like Thor, Captain America and Guardians of the Galaxy. This is the strategy behind the Barbie movie, which comes out on 21 July. Kreiz began working on it when he became CEO of Mattel in 2018 and he remains executive producer. Kreiz acknowledges there is some risk in giving Barbie the Hollywood treatment. Barbie remains Mattel's biggest-selling brand, making the company more than £1bn ($1.5bn) annually. Its other brands include Hot Wheels, Masters of the Universe, Monster High, Bob the Builder and Thomas the Tank Engine. Kreiz argues Mattel's other brands also have the potential to be turned into successful spin-offs. But the recent collapse of Toys R Us shows why toymakers like Mattel need to diversify beyond the sale of physical products. Barbie was first introduced in America in 1959, developed by Ruth Handler, co-founder of Mattel. Mattel is restructuring the company to move with the times. Now it simply divides its products into categories (like dolls, vehicles and pre-school), rather than having teams devoted to separate boys' and girls' products.
