Just a couple of years ago the advent of a Barbie movie powered by feminism might have seemed about as likely as the plaything giving up her Dreamhouse and pink convertible for a studio flat in Croydon and a reliable secondhand Prius. Yet here we are in the era of Greta Gerwig’s playfully subversive film having taken more than $1bn at the global box office. Life in the Hollywood fantasy sandbox might never be quite the same again.
We should all be far from shocked, then, to note this week that the next powerhouse toy-based critical darling is gently taking shape. Is it Denis Villeneuve’s arty and intense reworking of the life story of Slinky Dog? Or perhaps Lena Dunham’s nostalgic, feminist take on Polly Pocket (nope, the Girls creator pulled out of that one earlier in the summer). Is Michel Gondry up for bringing us Nerf Wars: the Movie?
