Mattel minted a fortune when its movie about a pretty doll for little girls turned out to be a sophisticated tale of subversive feminism that connected with audiences during the summer of Barbenheimer. Barbie ended its run with a worldwide box office gross of $756 million and 10 Oscar nominations to boot. The toy company is hoping it can do it all again with the announcement of a live-action Hot Wheels movie that will be directed by Jon M. Chu, who is coming off the second-half of his two-part Wicked musical.
The Hot Wheel live-action movie script will be written by Juel Taylor and Tony Rettenmaier whose previous credits include They Cloned Tyrone and Creed II. Producing credits, meanwhile, go to J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot company and Chu’s own Electric Somewhere. Mattel Studios’ President and Chief Content Officer Brenner said of his new director: “Jon’s ability to craft rich, elaborate worlds with a distinct point of view makes him the ideal storyteller to bring Hot Wheels to life.”
How To Transfer Hot Wheels To The Big Screen
Chu is no stranger to movie adaptations of toy franchises. He also directed G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which is based on a toy line owned by Mattel’s crosstown rival, Hasbro. His first major film behind the camera was Step Up 2: The Streets, which he followed with Step Up 3D (remember when 3D was the craze?). His other notable directorial credits include Now You See Me 2, In The Heights, and the very successful Crazy Rich Asians.
Even with that pedigree, Chu will have a monumental task bringing the Hot Wheels universe to life. The cars themselves will likely be characters, but with the movie being live action, don’t expect them to move and speak like they do in the Pixar universe. That means there’ll be human characters too, and perhaps the story will revolve around their connection to Hot Wheels as children and how it manifests in adulthood. If we were to be so bold, we’d suggest Chu takes a page from The Lego Movie, which so creatively crossed back and forth between the real world of adults and the child’s world of play.
Chu would have a field day deconstructing my psyche on the silver screen and probably conclude I should just rip off the packaging and play with my Hot Wheels.
Hot Wheels began in 1968 as a response by Mattel co-founder Elliot Handler to Matchbox cars. According to Deadline, he considered his toy cars to be a “cooler, more performance-oriented alternative.” And he was right, as Mattel would go on to acquire Matchbox in 1997. Hot Wheels has sold more than 8 billion cars since its inception, and the brand has collaborated with tastemakers in arenas ranging from fashion to gaming to motorsports. Its latest is a partnership with F1: The Movie that resulted in a high-quality 1:64-scale replica of the APXGP car driven by Sonny Hayes.
TopSpeed’s Take
There are Hot Wheels cars on the desk of literally every person who works at TopSpeed. On my desk right now are a 1:64-scale Mercedes-Benz 500 E, Aston Martin Vanquish, Dodge Viper RT/10, and Dodge Viper GTS. They’re all unopened because I’m that kind of adult who doesn’t buy toys to play with them, but rather as collectibles to be preserved and merely seen. Chu would have a field day deconstructing my psyche on the silver screen and probably conclude I should just rip off the packaging and play with my Hot Wheels. Maybe I will one day.
It’s hard to imagine a live-action Hot Wheels movie could earn the kind of prestigious accolades as Barbie did. After all, the subject of gender power dynamics in society is a bit more substantial than toy cars can probably muster. That said, there are surely themes swirling around the Hot Wheels experience that will be fruitful to explore. Perhaps they’ll return to the theme of gender by examining who gets to play with Hot Wheels and who doesn’t. We’re speculating now, so it’s probably best to leave this project in the capable hands of Chu and just wait to buy our tickets.
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