Daniel Kaluuya’s Barney Movie ‘Will Not Be Odd,’ Says Mattel CEO

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While it remains a mystery what the previously announced live-action Barney movie will be about, Mattel’s CEO assures fans that the film “will not be odd.”

In an interview with Semafor (spotted by Gizmodo), Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz spoke briefly about the upcoming Barney film, which is being produced by Daniel Kaluuya. Kaluuya previously teased that it would be a “heartbreaking” take on the purple dinosaur, and while that sounds potentially pretty bizarre, Kriez insists that it won’t be.

“It’s too early to be specific, but I can tell you we are taking a fresh approach that will be fun, entertaining, and culturally oriented,” Kreiz explained. “It will not be an odd movie.”

That seemingly contradicts a comment made by Mattel CEO Kevin McKeon, who said earlier this year that the upcoming film is going to “really be a play for adults.” He added that, while not R-rated necessarily, Kaluuya’s take on the film will “focus on some of the trials and tribulations of being thirtysomething, growing up with Barney — just the level of disenchantment within the generation.”

McKeon also described it as an “A24-type film” – which, if you’re not familiar with indie studio A24, they’ve got a reputation for producing movies that are unconventional, and sometimes psychologically disturbing in some capacity.

A live-action Barney film was announced to be in the works in 2019. After finding out that Get Out star Kaluuya was set to produce, we’ve gotten few updates, but we’ll just have to wait for a teaser before we can get a better sense of what to expect.

Of course, it is not the only Barney project Mattel is working on, as we learned earlier this year that the big purple dinosaur is also getting a reboot for the big and small screens. And unlike Kaluuya’s film, these reboot projects catered more to Barney’s typical and younger demographic; Barney’s even got a new look for this particular occasion.

Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.