However, Mattel's research showed that girls were spending more time online than playing with physical dolls. Mattel's team also considered targeting market audiences of career women and their daughters by introducing lines of Doctor or Lawyer Barbies. This move might also have been rejected because of the success of the sexualized Bratz dolls of Mattel's competitors. Mattel consultants initially considered reducing the Barbie's breast size, but later claimed that the doll's figure could not be changed because 'being consistent is one of her biggest strengths'.

Mattel therefore attempted to overhaul the Barbie brand to keep the toy relevant to consumers in the modern age by bringing in consultants and conducting research on key market groups. īarbie's net popularity on the toy market began to decline in the 1990s, and struggled further when MGA Entertainment introduced a line of Bratz dolls, whose sexualized characters contrasted with Barbie's older, chaste image. As of 2013, the film franchise has sold over 110 million DVD units worldwide. The first ten films in the series sold 40 million DVD and VHS units worldwide by 2007, grossing over $700 million in sales. Scholars examining how the Barbie films differ from other princess narratives have concluded that Mattel intentionally attempted to remediate its brand based on feminist criticisms through storytelling in the films. The films were created in an attempt to revive sales and love for the brand since the 1990s due to the rise of online and digital media.

The Barbie films and their plots center on Barbie as the singular CGI main character, and often frame Barbie as a modern girl telling the story to one of her sisters or a younger friend. The 35th film, Barbie: Video Game Hero from 2017, marked the last time that the series aired on television. For the following 15 years, Barbie movies were released both on DVD and as TV specials on Nickelodeon. The next year, the franchise made its television debut on Nickelodeon with the second movie, Barbie as Rapunzel. The series began in 2001 with the direct-to-video release of Barbie in the Nutcracker. Since 2017, they have instead been available on streaming services. From 2002 to 2017, the films were aired regularly on the Nickelodeon cable channel.

The Barbie film series is a franchise of animated films featuring Barbie, a fashion doll manufactured by American toy company Mattel.

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