Barbie’s box office bonanza prompts a spate of copycat movies – with Lily Collins ready to star as Polly Pocket

The global success of Barbie at the box office has caused a ‘stampede’ in Hollywood to make films based on dolls, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.

New films based on the popular American Girl and miniature Polly Pocket dolls, both made by Barbie manufacturer Mattel, have been given the green light, with Emily In Paris star Lily Collins set to star in the first Polly Pocket movie.

The Polly Pocket film is being written and directed by Lena Dunham, creator of the hit TV show Girls.

It will be about ‘a young girl and a pocket-sized woman who form a friendship’, according to sources.

Barbie has now taken more than £545 million at the global box office and is set to dominate UK cinemas this weekend. This has prompted executives at Mattel Films, which produced the movie, to race to cash in on other toys.

The Polly Pocket film is being written and directed by Lena Dunham, creator of the hit TV show Girls (pictured: a Polly Pocket doll with Barbie in the background)

Barbie has now taken more than £545 million at the global box office and is set to dominate UK cinemas this weekend

A source said: ‘Barbie has set a fire under Hollywood. There is a stampede to cash in on other dolls.’

While Hollywood’s actors and writers are currently on strike, executives are pushing ahead with making deals.

‘The deals are being done,’ the source said. ‘As soon as the writers can write and the actors can act it will be full steam ahead. Mattel hopes to create a whole Mattel Universe, just like Marvel has.’

It is understood that Ms Dunham has already finished the script for Polly Pocket, which will eventually go into production once the strike is resolved. 

Striking writers and actors are calling for pay increases and rules around the use of artificial intelligence in Hollywood.

Mattel is said to be ‘desperate’ for a sequel to Barbie, but insiders say writer and director Greta Gerwig is not ready to commit to this.

‘Greta has said she can’t even start to think about a sequel after all the work and promotion she’s had to do for this first movie.

‘Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling [who play Barbie and Ken] are also on the fence. The first movie has been such a phenomenon that it’s going to be hard to top it.

‘There will be a sequel, for sure. At this stage it’s more likely that Barbie will go the way of the James Bond franchise – you will get different actors creating their own version of her, and different directors and writers for each sequel.’

This has prompted executives at Mattel Films, which produced the movie, to race to cash in on other toys like Polly Pocket (pictured above)