With the Oscar-nominated ‘Barbie,’ Mattel has arrived in Hollywood. What’s next for the toy company?

Barbie has had quite the year. As she celebrates her 65th birthday this week, the newly minted movie star has inspired a worldwide cultural movement and will make her grand debut at the Academy Awards this upcoming weekend with eight nominations.

Barbie has had quite the year. As she celebrates her 65th birthday this week, the newly minted movie star has inspired a worldwide cultural movement and will make her grand debut at the Academy Awards this upcoming weekend with eight nominations. “Barbie” – the movie – was a smash success, hauling in over $1.4 billion globally to become the biggest movie of 2023. But that was just Mattel’s first entry into Hollywood, as the storied toy company looks to turn its large portfolio of brands, including Hot Wheels, Fisher Price and American Girls, into content and experiences beyond the mere physical toys. The “Barbie” movie (from Warner Bros. Pictures, which shares the same parent company as CNN) ignited a hot pink explosion that has greatly expanded the doll’s brand around the world. But Mattel’s effort to strike gold again comes at a difficult time for franchises in Hollywood. Once-guaranteed franchises like Disney’s Marvel cinematic universe are underperforming at the box office and properties based on toys, like Hasbro’s “Transformers” films, are not raking in the billion-dollar ticket sales they once were. Mattel has 13 series on television and across streaming and is currently developing more than a dozen films, including “Hot Wheels” from J.J. Abrams; “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em” with star Vin Diesel; “Polly Pocket” from Lena Dunham, starring Lily Collins; “Barney,” which will be produced by Daniel Kaluuya; an animated “Bob the Builder” movie from executive producer Jennifer Lopez and Anthony Ramos; and “Major Matt Mason,” which will star Tom Hanks as the astronaut action figure. Films based on the Magic 8 Ball and the UNO card game are also in the works. “We think of people who buy our product not just as consumers, but as fans that have an emotional relationship with our brands,” Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz tells CNN. “This is very much about transforming Mattel from being a toy manufacturing company that was making items to an intellectual property company that is managing franchises,” Kreiz adds.