Barbie dolls beaming in homevid spotlight

Barbie dolls and her siblings in Barbie dolls: An Ideal Christmas. Mattel released an item line for Skipper, Chelsea and Stacie last spring. Barbie dolls will spend much more amount of time in the makeup chair.Though Universal Pictures is creating a theatrical feature starring Barbie dolls, Mattel could keep the in the forefront around the small screen because it remembers the tenth anni of their direct-to-DVD animated film series, whose 22nd installment, "Barbie dolls: An Ideal Christmas," is within stores now.The homevid characters have offered a lot more than 100 million models because the first installment, "Barbie dolls within the Nutcracker," was launched in 2001 in an effort to introduce the toy to an alternative generation of three- to six-years old women while spinning off a brand new type of merchandise.The game titles, whose dvds are written by Universal Galleries Home Theatre, consistently rank because the top non-theatrical children's franchise, selling tens of millions of Dvd disks worldwide every year. And Mattel thinks still it has more room to develop the franchise.At any given time when Hollywood is enthusiastic about taking advantage of brands, Mattel's Barbie dolls films function as a example of methods producers can monetize well-known qualities outdoors from the megaplex (although Mattel did land Barbie dolls a flashy role in Pixar and Disney's "Toy Story 3," that has extended to a number of short films)."For all of us it is all about making emotional connections with women, and storytelling is really a large method of doing that," stated Lisa McKnight, senior Vice president of Barbie dolls Marketing and Entertainment at Mattel.Mattel will launch its first DVD follow up the coming year with "Barbie dolls inside a Mermaid Tale 2," according to last year's hot seller.InchWe've enough game titles and tales within our library that we are searching at sequels," McKnight stated. "It is a new technique for us."Initially, Mattel and it is toon partners at Rainmaker Entertainment and Technicolor, launched one pic each fall. But following the films found a crowd, Mattel added another spring release in 2005, and added another holiday title in 2008. Take advantage of Hudnut can serve as professional producer from the Barbie dolls Dvd disks."Barbie dolls of Swan Lake" ranks among the top retailers, while "Mermaid Tale" was the very first spring pic to still outsell an autumn release.In 2012, Mattel will introduce new films that center around Barbie's siblings -- Skipper, Chelsea and Stacie -- following a products for that sibs was released earlier this spring."Getting the items culminate inside a movie was exciting for all of us,Inch McKnight stated.In 2013, the toymaker will place the first Barbie dolls films on Blu-ray -- a format that Mattel continues to be slow to embrace because of the sooner production occasions needed to transform films. Blu-ray is a slow seller with families, because of the truth that Blu-ray gamers aren't as ubiquitous in houses and inside automobiles as DVD. "The transmission just has not been as great," McKnight stated.The flicks will also become available as digital downloads, considering the fact that more families own apple ipods and iPads. The flicks already experience kids cable channels for example Nick Junior.Through the years, Mattel found the important thing to creating the flicks effective was putting Barbie dolls not only in her own Malibu digs however in fantasy and storybook configurations where she will play a mermaid, a princess or fairy -- basically exactly the same elements that labored for Disney's princess and fairies line, now a $4 billion annually industry.Mattel released Barbie dolls within the underwater realm of "Mermaidia" in 2006, which brought to "A Mermaid Tale." In 2007, Barbie dolls found herself in "Fairytopia." The organization made a decision to launch the film series with "The Nutcracker" since the property had been familiar to families and moms.The brand new configurations enabled Mattel to pair track of certification partners to create bath toys, for instance, that match using the underwater configurations, or perhaps a type of role-playing items like dresses, tiaras and footwear for that fairy-tale world. The flicks also have assisted launch a effective posting business, and, obviously, enabled Mattel to create more dolls in line with the onscreen figures."Women watch our movies again and again again and become familiar with these figures well," which allows Mattel create more items to promote for them, McKnight stated. "We are thrilled this can be a franchise which has suffered," the professional added. "We are so appreciative to possess this fanbase that's always waiting for the following movie." Contact Marc Graser at marc.graser@variety.com