What is the hottest movie in the theaters right now? Barbie of course. Everyone is talking about Barbie and advertisements for the movie are everywhere you look. From Progressive commercials to Airbnb, the classic plastic toy is taking the world by storm with the release of the new movie. Disney is getting in on the action with the breaking announcement that Barbie is now officially a Disney Princess.
The Barbie movie made $162 million at the box office on its opening weekend. Clearly, the movie was hot out of the gate. Many are questioning if the popularity will remain for the movie. In fact, a lot of people are speculating it will die down significantly the following weekends. Despite this, Disney is trying to cash in on the Barbie fever with the announcement that Barbie is officially a Disney Princess.
Barbie is Now a Disney Princess
According to Disney’s website, here is a list of all of their princesses. Tiana, Moana, Mulan, Belle, Pocahontas, Snow White, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Merida, Jasmine, Aurora, and Ariel. Whew, that was quite the list. Surprisingly, Elsa and Anna aren’t on that list. Anyways, Disney Princesses are key to the company. In fact, they bring in some of the most revenue for the company, which surprises us that Disney is now allowing men to be princesses, which we reported on here.
Disney recognizes the huge upside with their princesses and has announced Barbie as the next official Disney Princess. You may be wondering how Barbie can be a Disney Princess when the Barbie movie isn’t even a Disney movie. We will get to that soon. With this announcement, Disney will be bringing back a Barbie meet and greet inside their parks, just like they had in the 90s. It’s also possible that Disney may even give cinderella castle a Barbie makeover as seen in the concept art above.
It’s also expected that Disney will add a ton of Barbie merchandise to their theme parks. As we noted earlier, princesses make a ton of money for Disney, so this is the next logical step. Also, speaking of merchandise, we now have our own line of merchandise! You can get your Mouse Trap Merch here, and wear it around Disney. They will love it. Anyways, Disney is going to milk the success of the Barbie movie in their parks and stores.Â
How Did Barbie Become a Disney Princess?
This question can only be quasi-answered due to a lack of transparency. As we mentioned above, Disney had a Barbie meet and greet in the 90s. This was an agreement between Disney and Mattel, who owns Barbie. Later, Disney also got the rights to include Barbie in some of the Toy Story movies. So there has long been an established relationship between Disney and Mattel around Barbie.
In regards to making her a princess, we are not privy to the details of the contract. However, according to an internal source, Disney and Mattel reached an agreement where Disney can officially make Barbie a princess. The agreement allegedly has a set timeframe with the option to extend it. This essentially means that Barbie is a Disney Princess now, but may not be forever. However, this will be the first non-Disney character to become a Disney Princess.
This agreement between Disney and Mattel is a mutual agreement and both companies benefit. Disney benefits because they can use Barbie in their parks to make money. Mattel benefits because this is another huge marketing opportunity for Barbie. Nothing is more special than meeting a Disney character as a kid. Mattel knows that and anticipates a huge upside in sales because Barbie is now a Disney Princess.
What do you think of Barbie becoming a Disney Princess? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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No and yes at the same time