A Live-Action Barbie Movie? Really?

One of the most popular toys of the past century is coming to the big screen: Barbie's about to be a live-action movie. No one really knows why except for capitalism and the inner cogs of Hollywood, but ain't that always the case? As for what will come of it, only time will tell.

The film's a team-up of Sony and Mattel, and will reportedly also tell the story of a team-up: The film's apparently a buddy comedy wherein Barbie goes to work as the assistant of an "overworked beaurocrat" and hijinks ensue. Seems like a bit of a step down from astronaut, or computer engineer, or NASCAR driver (all jobs Barbie) has done, but whatever floats her boat. There's no word yet on whether they'll be sticking with the name Barbara Millicent Rogers or will be going with something more modern.

Barbie was certainly one of the biggest icons of the 20th Century, but even so the decision to take her live-action is a little baffling — especially given the myriad of controversies the brand's inspired over the years.

Columbia Pictures President of Production Hannah Minghella seems pretty confident, though, if her statement on the film's any indication:

We’ve always thought that the Barbie story had great potential, but a universe of possibilities opened up when Jenny [Bicks], Walter [Parkes] and Laurie [MacDonald] brought us their unexpected, clever and truly funny concept. It captures everything that has made Barbie a classic for generation after generation while also standing on its own, establishing Barbie as a truly original screen character. We’re confident that Barbie will delight audiences, no matter where her adventures take her.

Another fun fact about this movie: It's being written by the screenwriter (Bicks) behind the Amanda Bynes movie What A Girl Wants. This one seems a lot less likely to include Colin Firth dancing around in leather pants, though, so it's still gonna take a little convincing to get us on board. And this entire project is just screaming '90s/early-'00s to us — but maybe that's just the Life Size flashbacks.

And there's almost no way it'll match The Most Popular Girls In School, the best modern use of the Barbie brand.