“Hi, Barbie!”

Wes Phipps

A digitally constructed image created by junior Wes Phipps illustrates the upcoming Barbie movie. “The old Barbie movies made me have a big imagination as a little girl, and think I could do anything,” junior Camilla Rousseau said. “I would definitely watch the movie when it comes out.” The film will be in theaters starting July 21.

With Greta Gerwig as the director, Warner Bros. released a YouTube video in December of 2022 as a first glimpse of what will come to theaters. In the video, a giant Barbie doll appears to be wearing the striped swimsuit Mattel introduced in 1959. Seeing the giant shadow of the new doll, a group of young girls tear apart their old dolls. The scene cuts to Barbie’s vibrant world of both color and dance.

“I’ve watched Barbie [movies] before in the past. I would be more excited now because it’s a live-action version,” sophomore Liia Chinokaeva said. “I’m excited for Margot Robbie since I think she’s a good actress.”

There are several others who will appear in the film as featured on the Barbie Instagram page: Dua Lipa, Kate McKinnon, Will Ferrell, Michael Cera, Emma Mackey, Jamie Demetriou and Emerald Fennell.

The page also contains a separate set of posters portraying the film’s “human” characters in addition to the dolls.

“Something like “Barbie” where the the name itself, people immediately have an idea of, ‘Oh, Margot is playing Barbie, I know what that is,’ but our goal is to be like, ‘Whatever you’re thinking, we’re going to give you something totally different — the thing you didn’t know you wanted,'” Margot Robbie said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “Because if we can do all that and provoke a thoughtful conversation, then we’re really firing on all cylinders.”

Fans have spotted the movie’s “behind-the-scenes” around town and posted pictures on social media, many of them featuring cast members in a public setting. 

“I’ve watched many Barbie movies in the past. I’ve grown up watching them so they’ve become very likable to me,” junior Emily Duron said. “I believe [the] old movies impacted me. She’s always been put with the [idea that] ‘you can be anything,’ so that was pretty encouraging growing up.”