+43% in North America

Mattel’s doll business booms thanks to the “Barbie” film

The "Barbie" film starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling was the movie highlight of the past year for many - and this success also had an impact on the dolls produced by Mattel. The film provided the toy with a strong tailwind in Christmas sales. Gross sales of Barbie dolls jumped by 27 percent to 473 million dollars (440.29 million euros).

The film, which was released in the summer, generated more than one billion dollars worldwide and also boosted interest in Barbie products, which had often been flagging previously. In the home market of North America, there was even an increase of 43 percent, as the company announced after the US stock exchange closed on Wednesday. 

In the gross business figure, Mattel records the total of invoices issued to customers, excluding any discount campaigns, among other things. Group sales across all product categories rose by 16 percent year-on-year to 1.6 billion dollars. Profit jumped from 16.1 million dollars in the same quarter of the previous year to 147.3 million dollars.