Hold on to your bonnets, berets and other historically accurate accessories: A movie based on the beloved American Girl dolls is in the works with Mattel and Neal H. Moritz’s Original Film producing, insiders told TheWrap.
The project is currently looking for writers. The dolls were first released in 1986 and are sold with books that tell stories of American history. In 1998, Pleasant Company became a subsidiary of Mattel.
This isn’t the American Girls’ first run at Hollywood. In 2008, Abigail Breslin starred in the theatrically released film “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.”
In 2004, American Girl teamed with Julia Roberts’ Red Om production company to develop a direct-to-video movie titled “Samantha: An American Girl Holiday” based on the Samantha doll. Movies that followed including “Felicity: An American Girl Adventure” (2005), “Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front” (2006). Amazon had a live-action special titled “Melody, 1963: Love Has to Win, an American Girl Story,” released in 2016.
Moritz’s credits include “21 Jump Street,” the “Fast and Furious” films, “Cruel Intentions,” “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “xXx.” He currently has various projects on his slate, including “Hobbs and Shaw,” “Skyscraper,” “Harbinger,” “Sonic the Hedgehog,” “Creepy Crawlers” and “Bloodshot” He is represented by UTA.
A spokesperson for Original Films did not respond to multiple calls from TheWrap. A spokesperson for American Girl and Mattel declined to comment.