It’s finally here — the first teaser trailer for a major motion picture from Mattel Films has arrived.
Warner Bros. surprised audiences last night by attaching the teaser trailer for the Barbie movie from filmmaker Greta Gerwig to prints of Avatar: The Way of Water. The short clip instantly set Twitter ablaze in a flurry of activity commenting on the Barbie-fied version of Los Angeles (check out the pink LAX control tower) and its decade-hopping visuals. Watch it below.
Cinephiles will note that this trailer plays heavily on a scene from Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) in which apes are encouraged to “touch the monolith” to signal evolution. In this case, the “monolith” is Margot Robbie as Barbie and a crew of little girls smashes their traditional baby dolls in favor of Barbie’s promise that “you can be anything.”
Shout out to Ryan Gosling and Simu Liu for representing versions of Ken in the trailer.
Barbie will inspire a new line of toys and will hit theaters on July 21, 2023.