Polly Pocket Movie: Release Date, Cast, Trailer, and Everything We Know So Far

Composite: Getty Images/Mattel

Following the success of Barbie, Mattel is going all out with a roster of toy-centric movies, and next on the list seems to be a Polly Pocket movie. According to Forbes, the toy company has over 45 films in the works as part of what people are already referring to as the Mattel Cinematic Universe — let the fight for the initials commence — with plans that expand way past potential Barbie sequels. Variety confirmed that out of those 45 prospective movies, 14 titles are currently in active development, including Uno, American Girl, Barney, and, of course, Polly Pocket.

First launched in the 1980s, the Polly Pocket dolls are way smaller than Barbies in size, but pack an equal punch. The mini-doll has undergone multiple transformations throughout the decades in the plastic world, but it’s also expanded its presence way past toy stores. The Polly Pocket universe includes fashion collaborations, multiple films, web series, a TV series, and now, this upcoming live-action adaptation.

The Polly Pocket live-action movie, fronted by Lily Collins, has been in the works for a bit, but it picked up even more steam post-Barbie. Mattel Films’ Robbie Brenner and Kevin McKeon will oversee the project. If you are dying to know more details about the upcoming film, fret not because we have collated them all here. Here’s everything you need to know about Mattel’s Polly Pocket movie — especially after Lena Dunham's departure.

→ Director
→ Cast
→ Plot
→ Announcement
→ Release date

Who will direct the Polly Pocket movie?

Your guess is as good as ours. Much of the buzz around the Barbie movie was attached to director Greta Gerwig, and Polly Pocket was set to follow suit when it was originally slated to be directed by another familiar name: Lena Dunham.

“Polly Pocket was responsible for countless hours of childhood escapism for me – Polly gave me a tiny world of magic and autonomy to narrate, so it’s pretty poetic to be tackling these same ideas now as a director,” Dunham shared in 2021. “I’m so thrilled to bring to bear both my love of this historic property and also my deep-seated belief that young women need smart, playful films that speak to them without condescension.”

However, in July 2024, Dunham announced she would no longer be part of the project. “I’m not going to make the Polly Pocket movie,” Dunham told The New Yorker, admitting she had already written the script and had been working on the film for three years.

“I think Greta [Gerwig] managed this incredible feat [with Barbie], which was to make this thing that was literally candy to so many different kinds of people and was perfectly and divinely Greta. And I just — I felt like, unless I can do it that way, I’m not going to do it,” Dunham continued. “I don’t think I have that in me. I feel like the next movie I make needs to feel like a movie that I absolutely have to make. No one but me could make it. And I did think other people could make Polly Pocket.”

Originally, it was reported that production for the Polly Pocket movie in the hands of MGM and Dunham’s own company, Good Thing Going.

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Who’s in the cast of the Polly Pocket movie?

For now, the only cast member of the Polly Pocket movie that has been revealed is Emily in Paris star Lily Collins. Collins is set to star in the titular doll role, and she sure looks super excited to be stepping into the tiny shoes. “As a child who was obsessed with Polly Pocket, this is a real dream come true, and I can’t wait to bring these tiny toys to the big screen,” the actor shared when the film was first announced.

According to then-still-director Dunham, Collins’s take on the popular toy will be “adorable and delightful” and, perhaps more importantly, as minuscule as they come, so be ready to squint. “Let’s just say Polly Pocket was at her best when she was the original teensy tiny ’90s size,” Dunham told The Hollywood Reporter in 2022. “They made her a little bigger now, which I support, because of choking hazards. But I’m writing ’90s tiny.” (Is anyone having flashbacks of Hugh Grant’s Oompa Loompa or just me?)

Much like Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie for Barbie, Lena Dunham and Lily Collins were supposed to be operating in tandem for Polly Pocket, with Dunham penning and directing the movie and Collins starring and producing. Speaking to Variety in 2023, Robbie Brenner, the executive producer of Mattel Films, dished on the duo’s working ethics, dubbing the film as an “amazing collaboration.” She added: “Lena is so collaborative and rolls up her sleeves and really likes to roll around in notes and listen. She’s incredible. Lily is so smart and so specific and so productorial. It’s just been an incredible collaboration, so we are thrilled about it.”

Now that Dunham has officially pulled out from the project, who knows what'll happen to this movie!

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What will the Polly Pocket movie be about?

When the Polly Pocket film was first announced, Mattel shared it would follow the story of “a young girl and a pocket-sized woman who form a friendship.” Collins also shared in her announcement from 2021 that the movie would be a reintroduction of Polly “in a fun, modern way.”

During an interview with The Hollywood Reporter a year later, Dunham teased the movie would “have a lot of fun with the idea of what happens when a small person encounters a big world.” Make of that what you will, but I, for one, was expecting to see Collins in someone’s pocket.

Variety confirmed post-Barbie that the Polly Pocket movie will be a “family comedy,” so maybe we can expect a bit less existential dread and patriarchal antics than the pink blockbuster.

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When was the Polly Pocket movie announced?

Mattel’s Polly Pocket movie was first announced back in 2021 as a feature film. During the summer of 2021, the project was officially announced with the Emily in Paris star and the Girls director already attached. In 2022, Dunham confirmed she was finishing her second and final draft of the script. Brenner described the final script as “great” to Variety. Since Dunham exited the project in 2024, Polly Pocket seems to be back to square one.

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When will the Polly Pocket movie be released?

Before Dunham's exit announcement, the film looked like it was still in the final stages of pre-production. The project was also likely impacted by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, and since they now have to find a whole new director and screenwriter, it’s likely that the project won’t advance to the production stage for a while — if at all — and then it would also take a year or two to film and finally be released. (For reference, Gerwig’s Barbie began shooting in March 2022 and wrapped a few months later, in July, for a July 2023 release.)

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This story will be updated as more information about Mattel’s Polly Pocket movie breaks.

Originally Appeared on Teen Vogue

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