Barbie isn’t the only Mattel property getting developed into a movie. The toymaker revealed there are a total of 45 Mattel-related projects currently in the works. One those we already knew about, the eventually cancelled “UNO” film. Screenwriter Marcy Kelly recently shared some serious intel on what the WILD plot would’ve been.
At one point, Mattel intended to turn their classic card game, that tears families apart, into a movie. Kelly was hired to pen the script, which was an expletive-heavy heist flick.
“My reaction was the reaction that everybody has, which is ‘What?’ The first draft that I sent in was ‘fuck’-heavy,” Kelly said. “It was something like fifty pages, and then the next draft had one. I got my one, well-placed, PG-13 ‘fuck.’ They’ve been open to so many kinds of unexpected ideas.”
Kelly gave no indication on how the game would relate to a heist. But it seems Mattel hasn’t given up on UNO just yet, since they reportedly have a new writers room, trying to think up ideas for a film adaptation.
Mattel is also working with JJ Abrams‘ production company Bad Robot for a Hot Wheels film adaptation. (This is not to be confused with “Speed Racer” the tv series for Apple TV+, which Abrams is also developing.) That’s not to say Abrams will direct, just that his production company is involved in its development. It has been confirmed Dalton Leeb and Nicholas Jacob-Larson will be handling the script. “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 told The New Yorker. “Then we came up with something… emotional and grounded and gritty.”
We’ll keep you posted on updates about that project as they develop. But if you can’t wait to see a Mattel property on the big screen you’re in luck. The “Barbie” movie hits theaters on July 21st. Check out the trailer below:
