Mattel Films is a division of Mattel. As Playground Productions, it was first part of Mattel Global Brands. It was later transferred to Mattel Creations, itself a division of Mattel, Inc. On September 6, 2018, the division was reformed as Mattel Films.
Background
In May 1970, Mattel had teamed up with producer Robert B. Radnitz to form a joint venturefilm production company, Radnitz/Mattel Productions. to produce family films including Sounder and “Where the Lilies Bloom”. The film from Radnitz/Mattel was A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich in 1977. A few properties, Hot Wheels, Max Steel, Masters of the Universe and Monster High have been set up at the various studios. For example, Hot Wheels was first at Columbia Pictures with McG attached to direct, but ended up moving to Warner Bros. and Joel Silver. As of 2013, the property was licensed out to Legendary Pictures, with Joe Roth attached to produce. In October 2013, Mattel Playground Productions was launched by Mattel as its new in-house film studio to handle multi-media productions for Mattel's brands.
History
Playground Productions
In October 2013, Mattel Playground Productions was launched by Mattel as its new in-house film studio to handle multi-media production, films, TV shows, web series, live events and games, for Mattel's brands. The intent was to centralize Mattel's disjointed content productions. Its first animated project is “Team Hot Wheels: The Origin of Awesome”. Mattel has under development a live-action Hot Wheels movie at Legendary Entertainment and Universal Studios, a Masters of the Universe and a Barbie film at Columbia Pictures, a Monster High feature with Universal and a Max Steel film with Dolphin Entertainment. Playground Productions was planned to set up three-year storytelling plans that incorporate every part of the Mattel company from toy designers to consumer products and marketing. David Voss was appointed as Senior Vice President of Playground Productions. With WWE in March 2014, Playground launched an online short form series, WWE Slam City, to go along with the toy line. The series was picked up by Nicktoons’ NickSports programming block starting October 22, 2014. Voss left the division in January 2016 for subscription service, Loot Crate. In March 2016, PGP was placed within Mattel Creations along with the other two Mattel content production units. After failure of the Max Steel movie in 2016, Playground Productions was absorbed into Mattel Creations.
Current formation
On September 6, 2018, Mattel announced the launch of a film division, Mattel Films, that will make movies based on the company’s toy brands. Robbie Brenner was appointed to head the division as executive producer and will report directly to the CEO. The revived division's first two projects are expect to be Barbie and Masters of the Universe films. In early January 2019, Mattel closed the deal with Margot Robbie to star in the Barbie film and Warner and Robbie's production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, to co-produce the film. Mattel Films and Sony revive Master of the Universe film development in January 2019 with many of the prior attempt's director and producers while bringing on board different writers, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway. In February 2020, Mattel Films and MGM agreed to work on two films, American Girl and The View-Master Movie. With Legendary Entertainment let the rights option expire to Hot Wheels films revert to Mattel, Mattel Film shopped the property getting Warner Bros. as a partner on a movie for the first time in July 2020. The company teamed up with Universal Pictures for the first time in July 2020 on adaptation of Wishbone to film.
