Is the 'Barbie' movie more than just a two-hour Mattel commercial?

Mattel's "Barbie" movie broke box office expectations, grossing $155 million in its opening weekend. While containing social themes and commentary, some viewers couldn't help but feel the film was just a two-hour commercial for toymaker Mattel's rebranding of the Barbie product. Yahoo Finance Senior Columnist Rick Newman joins anchors Julie Hyman and Brad Smith to discuss the feminist themes in "Barbie" and the cultural and commercial impact the film is expected to have on consumers in the remainder of 2023.

Video transcript

BRAD SMITH: OK, but back to Barbie. Barbie made its big screen debut with a smash this weekend raking in $155 million in North American ticket sales. Julie and I saw the film this weekend and so did Yahoo Finance's Rick Newman, who joins us now.

JULIE HYMAN: Oh!

BRAD SMITH: Whoa!

JULIE HYMAN: Wow.

BRAD SMITH: Rick, I didn't see it coming. Came through with the pink-- the hot pink. Rick, give us your take.

RICK NEWMAN: I mean, I'm trying to join in the fun. But I have to say, guys, after I left the theater, I felt like I just sat through a two hour Barbie rebranding exercise. I feel like this was a-- I mean, it was fun, but I feel like it was a commercial for Mattel. I mean, they are updating Barbie for the meme era. The breaking news about Barbie is that she is now self-aware.

This is part of the whole evolution of Barbie. She started as basically a supermodel doll for girls. Mattel updated her over the years. There's now a line up of diverse Barbies. There's a line up of inspiring Barbies who are high achievers. And it feels to me like Mattel, which was a partner in the film, basically said, we need to go further with Barbie, so let's see if we can get this cast of all stars a lot of eye candy on the screen, and of course, the great director Greta Gerwig to bring Barbie into 2023.

So I thought it was a pretty decent film, but I think as a rebranding exercise, it's brilliant. I mean, look at how successful it is. I mean, record box office. Everybody's joining in. I'm here trying to join in the fun, but is it a great film? I don't think so.

JULIE HYMAN: Wow. So, OK, so here's what I would say. I had my takeaways as well from the movie. I think-- is it a great film? I don't know. It's a very good film with moments of greatness, certainly. And I think that especially-- it's so American, isn't it, that we have commerce and art here coexisting because I do think that this is a work of art at the same time that indeed it is a Barbie rebranding and a Barbie sales pitch.

And on that point, go to my third takeaway here, which is brace for Barbie holiday domination. We were talking earlier about this. Brad was saying check out the Halloween costumes we're going to see, and I said, everybody's going to be buying Barbies for their kids at Christmas and probably Ken now as well. But the other thing is-- for me, what I thought was really interesting here is that a movie about a doll that can spark a dialogue about feminism, which is actually kind of what happened in my house.

I mean, I saw it with my 11 and 14-year-old sons, and they had thoughts about what it means to be a woman, what it means to be a man. And so yes-- it's a commercial, but it's not only a commercial-- I think is what I would say.

RICK NEWMAN: Yeah, and I think that is why it is so-- such a successful marketing effort. I mean, Mattel did something really clever here. I mean, one of the-- I think one of the reasons critics love this movie-- and they do love this movie-- is it's very meta. It's very self-referential. There's a lot of winking at the idea of the original Barbie and how outdated the original Barbie is today.

But Mattel was pretty smart. They made-- they allowed themselves to be part of the story, and they allowed themselves to be part of the joke. So Mattel does not have a benevolent role in this movie. They're sort of the evil overlords. And I just-- I would love to have been sitting in the board meetings when they were trying to decide-- do we allow ourselves to be portrayed in this way in this movie. I mean, I think most corporations would not take that risk. So I mean I give Mattel credit for taking that risk.

And even more than what you just said, Julie, that this is going to be Halloween costumes and so forth. There could be 50 follow up movies. I mean--

BRAD SMITH: I don't know, Rick.

RICK NEWMAN: I don't want to spoil the end for people, but--

JULIE HYMAN: Not by Greta Gerwig, though, I bet.

BRAD SMITH: Rick, here's the thing--

RICK NEWMAN: I mean, I think a franchise is born. So now that Barbie has sampled the real world-- and I don't want to give away the ending-- but she develops an awareness of sexuality--

BRAD SMITH: Sure.

RICK NEWMAN: Think about how much further this could go.

BRAD SMITH: Yeah. Rick, I'm going to be brief with my movie takeaways here. I only got three. Number one, the Barbiecore outfits. We saw them everywhere. And my takeaways are really more kind of secondary or tertiary market related even here, as you think about going forward and where there could be some incremental pickup for other players who are capitalizing on this.

So Barbiecore outfits-- but I'm taking the other side of you Rick. I think it's a one and done Barbie box office moment for Mattel here. However, if I think about Apple Music and Spotify, you may have a song of the summer contender that drives up some of those streams here from Dua Lipa. So those are my quick takes here.

JULIE HYMAN: As before, we could talk for a long time about this, but we got to go. Rick Newman in pink, thank you so much.

RICK NEWMAN: I'm telling you the sequel is coming.

JULIE HYMAN: You made our day, buddy. All right. We'll right.