Mattel CEO teases big new film in the works after success of Barbie

The world is currently in a full-throttle hot pink-clad Barbie-mania with opening weekend for the eagerly-anticipated blockbuster smash of the summer making history.

Director and writer of Barbie, Greta Gerwig, has broken records after receiving the title of the highest opening weekend set by a solo female director.

After taking home a hefty $380 million worldwide in the film's first five days in cinemas, it’s no wonder that Mattel and Warner Bros. want more with Mattel CEO teasing a big new film in the works.

Warner Bros.

Cinephiles all over will be delighted to know that the CEO, Ynon Kreiz, already has a whole bunch of projects in the works to create what will essentially become a Mattel cinematic universe.

Just currently, there are already over a dozen Mattel projects in active development - 14 to be exact.

Such titles include Barney produced by Get Out's Daniel Kaluuya, Polly Pocket starring Emily in Paris' Lily Collins, as well as Thomas and Friends directed by Monster’s Ball and World War Z's Marc Forster.

Oh - and the exciting news doesn't stop there.

Mattel executives spoke to Variety about their IP strategy mere days before Barbie hit theatres and said they were 'hopeful' to open up a whole Barbie world of sequels.

Forget Barbie Land - Barbie World is definitely where it's at.

"Barbie, as a brand, has many different iterations," Kreiz explained. "The product lines of Barbie is a very broad brand."

The Mattel CEO continued: "In addition to the main Barbie figure, she has family, she has a lot of elements around in her universe.

Warner Bros.

"It’s a very rich universe… It’s a very broad and very elastic brand, in terms of opportunities.

"At the outset, we’re not saying, 'Okay, let’s think already about movie two and three.' Let’s get the first one right and make that a success.

"And if you do that, opportunities open up very quickly, once you establish the first movie as a successful representation of a franchise on the big screen.

"Successful movies lend themselves to more movies," the Mattel big boss added. "Our ambition is to create film franchises."

Speaking to New York Times about a potential Barbie sequel and whether the flick was 'the start of a franchise' or 'a complete story with a definitive ending', Gerwig revealed she's not currently got a follow-up in mind.

"At this moment, it's all I've got," the director said. "I feel like that at the end of every movie, like I'll never have another idea and everything I've ever wanted to do, I did.

"I wouldn’t want to squash anybody else’s dream but for me, at this moment, I’m at totally zero."

Guess we'll all just have to wait and see...