Mattel is expanding its presence in Hollywood with the premiere of Barbie later this month. But, that's not all. The toymaker is following it up with the development of the Hot Wheels film.
Key Takeaways
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J.J. Abrams is producing a Hot Wheels movie.
The film will be "emotional, grounded, and gritty."
The film has been in development for years, with Warner Bros and Mattel collaborating since 2019.
Dalton Leeb and Nicholas Jacobson-Larson are writing the screenplay.
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The film's producer, J.J. Abrams, recently gave an update for the film adaptation of the popular model car franchise with The New Yorker during a visit to the Mattel Design Center.
"For a long time, we were talking to Mattel about Hot Wheels, and we couldn't quite find the thing that clicked, that made it worthy of what Hot Wheels — that title— deserved," Abrams shared. "Then we came up with something… emotional and grounded and gritty."
The movie adaptation of Hot Wheels has spent years in development. Columbia Pictures was the first production company that tried to bring the popular toy franchise to the big screen in 2003. The rights for a movie adaptation were acquired by Warner Bros Pictures in 2009.
It was only in 2019 that Mattel and Warner Bros Pictures signed a deal to work on the Hot Wheels film. Star Wars producer J.J. Abrams and his production company Bad Robot joined the project in April 2022.
Dalton Leeb and Nicholas Jacobson-Larson have been tasked with writing the screenplay for Hot Wheels. The pair are currently working on The Fisherman which stars Emma Thompson and is about a woman who interrupts the kidnapping of a teenager.
It will be interesting to see how J.J. Abrams, Leeb, and Jacobson-Larson will develop a plot for the toy car franchise. As of writing, we know close to nothing about the story of the upcoming movie.
There is also no director attached to the project yet. The last director that was tapped to helm the project was Justin Lin in 2016. It is unclear if the director will be re-hired to lead the upcoming film.
Mattel is currently focused on the release of the live-action adaptation of Barbie. The upcoming film stars Margot Robbie as Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken. The movie follows the pair as they leave their perfect life behind to explore the human world where Will Farrell plays the CEO of a fictional version of Mattel.
The movie will have several versions of Barbie and Ken representing variants of the popular doll franchise. Dua Lipa, Issa Rae, Emma Mackey, Simu Liu, Scott Evans, and John Cena will play different versions of Barbie and Ken.
Barbie is coming to theaters on July 21.
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