There is fresh news about the Polly Pocket movie that entered development in 2021, but which was seemingly spurred on by the global success of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. With Lily Collins in the lead role, the movie will be a live-action feature centered around the famous micro-dolls, also produced by the Barbie company Mattel.
While writer-director Lena Dunham exited the project last year, ᴅᴇᴀᴅline now reports that Reese Witherspoon’s company, Hello Sunshine, will co-develop the Polly Pocket movie with Mattel Studios and Amazon MGM. Collins is still attached to star, while Jordan Weiss and Dan Brier are working on the script.
Collins’ Case Study Films is also producing, with Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter producing on behalf of Hello Sunshine and Barbie‘s Robbie Brenner for Mattel. The latter producer previously praised Polly Pocket‘s script, saying: “It’s just been an incredible collaboration, so we are thrilled about it. Hopefully, we’ll be making that at some point in the future.“
While this version of the script may no longer be what the movie will actually look like, the plot has been described as being about “a young girl and a pocket-sized woman who form a friendship.“ Thus, the Polly Pocket movie may be handling the concept of the central doll more literally than Barbie.
What This Means For The Live-Action Polly Pocket Movie
Losing eight-time Primetime Emmy nominee Lena Dunham in July 2024 was a huge blow for the Polly Pocket movie, and the project has been in limbo since then. While it has seemingly not found a new director, Jordan Weiss wrote Freakier Friday and Dan Brier, Sweethearts; they have a great selection of experiences with silly and heartwarming stories, putting Polly Pocket back on track.
Meanwhile, Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine previously produced Where the Crawdads Sing, a well-made and faithful adaptation of the bestselling novel, if not an outstanding film. Just getting this update is a huge win for the Polly Pocket movie, but its new, adept creative team could turn it into another surrealistic hit in the same vein as Barbie.
Our Take On Reese Witherspoon & Lily Collins’ Polly Pocket Movie
All the upcoming movies trying to be the “new Barbie” may raise some doubts among potential audiences. Barbie was so impactful and unique because of its exploration of how the brand has really affected the world and those who grew up with the dolls.
In that line of thinking, America Girl and Polly Pocket make sense, but the Magic 8 Ball or Chatty Cathy and Betsy Wetsy just sound weird. With Polly Pocket focusing on an actual Polly Pocket-sized person, it will probably be even more out-of-this-world, but could still be thoughtfully done.
Hello Sunshine will bring Polly Pocket additional publicity via Reese Witherspoon’s name, while Lily Collins is a strong choice to be Margot Robbie’s contemporary in this type of role. Now, the new creative team is setting out to see if lightning can strike twice, or if something like Barbie will simply never come about again.
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