Mattel is working with Sony Pictures Entertainment and Escape Artists Entertainment to co-produce a live-action feature film inspired by its historic 3D image toy View-Master. 

Escape Artists execs Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tish and Tony Shaw will produce the movie, which Mattel Films president Robbie Brenner describes as a four-quadrant family adventure. Brenner will oversee the project’s development with fellow Mattel execs Kevin McKeo and Arturo Thur de Koós. 

In a nutshell, a View-Master is a small stereoscope that allows viewers to flip through a series of color photographs—tourist attractions and scenic views initially, and then stills from licensed films and TV series later on—on a cardboard reel. It debuted on toy shelves in 1939, and Mattel has continued to iterate the brand since acquiring it in 1997, launching the most recent View-Master VR Viewer model in 2015. 

This isn’t the toyco’s first attempt at getting a View-Master feature film off the ground. In 2009, Mattel pitched a big-screen concept to DreamWorks Animation and K/O Paper Products, and later partnered with MGM Studios and former co-president of production Cassidy Lange to co-pilot a movie project in 2019. 

This newest View-Master vehicle joins a growing slate of brands with features in development at Mattel Films, including Matchbox (Apple Original Films), Hot Wheels (Warner Bros. Discovery), Masters of the Universe (Amazon MGM Studios, Escape Artists) and Barney (Valparaiso Pictures, 59%).