The phenomenal box office success of Greta Gerwig's big screen deconstruction of ‘Barbie world’ gender norms is by no means an incontrovertible ‘win’ for feminism. We can view the boost that the movie (and its associated brand partnerships) have given Mattel’s share price as the apex of an uneasy ‘post-feminist’ alliance between women directors who cut their teeth on the US ‘indie’ circuit and big movie franchises that has been cemented in recent years with the release of films like Chloe Zhao’s ‘Eternals’ for Marvel.

For all Barbie’s thematic patriarchy-bashing, the success of Gerwig’s first foray into the big-budget mainstream is also a success for Mattel’s shareholders and studio Warner Brothers, indicating the fundamental compatibility of its seemingly subversive feminist ideals with the franchise-driven production model that Gerwig eschewed earlier in her career.

With studios looking to continue cashing in on the brandification of feminism, it remains to be seen what further feminist ‘make-overs’ women directors will be invited to undertake for the major studios, although the trend certainly looks set to continue, with Lena Dunham already signed up to direct a film based on Mattel’s Polly Pocket and Gerwig set to helm a Netflix franchise based on the Chronicles of Narnia.