With rocketing numbers at the box office and endless online hype, it’s undeniable that Barbie is the summer blockbuster of 2023, if not the outright cinematic event of the year. Such a triumph was inevitable for a movie that combines Greta Gerwig’s incredible visuals with the power of nostalgia, and a storyline that’s making every man baby on the internet completely lose the plot. Barbie has something for everyone, even if it’s just getting to watch podcast bros throw tantrums online because a movie about dolls wasn’t made with their preferences in mind. Barbie is an unstoppable phenomena; with cosplay and decor and collectibles, it’s gone past being just a movie—Barbie is a lifestyle. This is Greta Gerwig’s internet now, and we’re all just playing in it.
Oddly enough, however, for a movie that’s inspired both fervent hatred and devotion, is the fact that there seems to be a great deal of confusion as to who actually owns Barbie, and whether the hot pink fever dream is a Disney IP or whether she belongs to another studio entirely. From fans wanting to know if they can meet Barbie at the parks to far-right knuckleheads calling for a Disney boycott because they think the movie is full of feminist demons that’ll turn your kids gay, there’s a lot of conflicting sources out there—with people speaking very confidently, and very wrongly, about which studio Barbie belongs to.
Is Barbie a Disney movie?
It’s easy to see how this happened, because Barbie feels like she should be a Disney princess. A movie saturated with pink and sparkly dresses, following the story of a young woman leaving her safe, seemingly perfect homeland on a journey of self-discovery feels pretty Disney—in theory. I’m pretty sure it shouldn’t feel like that once you’ve actually watched it, but then again, with their ever expanding IP including everything from Star Wars to Marvel, that Nice Disney tone is less of a indicator than it once was. No, Barbie is not a Disney movie. It is instead a Warner Bros. production, theoretically opening the possibility for a Superman or Batman crossover some day in the future. (OK, probably not, but wouldn’t you want to see that if it happened?)
If you happen to find yourself arguing with a Barbie Disney truther who finds your—and our—word insufficient proof, here are a couple of things you can point out to them (because people like that never just Google, do they? Not when they’re so convinced they’re right) to try and change their minds. Warner Bros. Discovery Tower actually appears on-screen during the scenes filmed in the Mattel CEO (Will Ferrell)’s office, as a nod to the studio. Barbie also features a Snyder Cut joke, which has become a bit of a running gag in Warner Bros. properties.
Of course, there’s also the fact that the Warner Bros. opening plays at the start of the movie, but if you arrived late to miss the (admittedly very long) series of ads and trailers played beforehand, or hadn’t actually seen the movie and just wanted to yell about Disney corrupting the youth, it would be very easy to miss that.
(featured image: Warner Bros.)
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Siobhan Ball
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