Mattel Set to Drive Into Premium Non-Pre School Series, Announce Dates for ‘Thomas & Friends’ Netflix Christmas Special

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent As it rolls out new animated series “Barney’s World” on Max and Cartoon Network and prepares a live-action “Barney” movie with Daniel Kaluuya, Mattel will be driving into live action non-pre school premium TV series to grow its brands and properties, Josh Silverman, Mattel’s chief franchise officer, announced on Sunday at his MipJunior leadership keynote at Cannes, entitled Beyond the Toybox: Shaping the Future of Play. Silverman also confirmed the Netflix release date of “Thomas & Friends: The Christmas Letter Express” one-hour holiday special as Nov. 21 in the U.S.

Global launches will be made across a bouquet of broadcast and streaming platforms including Milkshake! on Channel 5 and Nick Jr. in the U.K. and Cartoonito in Italy.

“We always done a really nice job on the kids animation side. We’ve had some some great offerings on the unscripted side,” Silverman told Variety. “One area that we’re really looking to double down in as we move forward here – and we’ll certainly share more over the coming months – is our focus on developing and creating really high quality, premium scripted live action content.

That’s been an area that we haven’t really stepped in and threw previously, at least in a meaningful way,” he added. At MipJunior Silverman also drilled down on Mattel’s playbook, taking in four principles: Brand propose, consumer-centric innovation, cultural relevance – “We are timeless and timely,” he noted – and a franchise mindset. “Barney’s World” is just the tip of the iceberg.

“One of the things that struck me when I joined Mattel was the incredible breadth and depth of our intellectual property, our portfolio. We have unbelievable brands and franchises, characters and stories that are like multi-generational and universal iconic, 99%, 100% awareness. And so we have incredible toy box toys to play with,” Silverman said at Cannes.