Anne Hathaway in Negotiations to Star in “Barbie” Movie at Sony

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Oscar winner Anne Hathaway is in negotiations to star in Sony’s BARBIE movie, schedule permitting, multiple individuals familiar with the project have told the Tracking Board.

Amy Schumer was previously attached to star in the film, which is slated for release on June 29, 2018. The Tracking Board can exclusively report that Alethea Jones (Fun Mom Dinner) is currently in talks to direct, though her representatives did not respond to multiple requests for comment over the past week.

A Sony spokesperson told the Tracking Board that Hathaway’s involvement is still “very premature.” That’s fair, but it’s not like we’re pulling her name out of thin air here. Like all of the trades, we’d been holding this story for quite some time, as explained below.

Amy Pascal is producing the Barbie movie with Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald, as well as Mattel.

A New York Times profile of Pascal timed to the release of Spider-Man: Homecoming pulled back the curtain on a deal that has been brewing for several months, though The Ankler was the first outlet to throw caution to the wind and let the cat(woman) out of the bag.

“Ms. Pascal thinks she has finally cracked “Barbie” as a live-action comedy; negotiations are underway with an Oscar-winning actress for the tonally tricky title role.”

That actress, according to numerous insiders, is Hathaway, who won an Oscar for Les Miserables and recently wrapped Ocean’s Eight. Hathaway’s commitment to Barbie will depend on her schedule, as she just signed on to topline the sci-fi movie O2 for IM Global. If that project presents a scheduling conflict, Sony will have to go back to the drawing board, but given how long these two parties have been dancing around each other, we think this deal is going to make.

Hathaway is represented by CAA and Management 360, while Jones is repped by Paradigm and 3 Arts Entertainment.

 Jeff Sneider | Editor in Chief