Barbie trailer 2023: Watch preview for upcoming movie featuring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling

The first trailer for the upcoming Barbie movie has been released overnight, and the internet has erupted into excited anticipation given the tone set during the trailer. Paying homage to Stanley Kubrick’s often imitated 2001: A Space Odyssey, the trailer includes lead actors Margot Robbie playing Barbie and Ryan Gosling as Ken.

As the narrator explains to viewers, at one point in time the only dolls a child could get was in the form of a baby. That was until Barbie came along: cue Margot Robbie walking into camera shot as the titular heroine and a number of children smashing their baby dolls into pieces - akin to the monkeys and the monolith in Kubrick’s celebrated work.

Rather than a teaser trailer, the Barbie trailer also offers viewers a chance to see some clips from the movie itself, which looks to be chock full of musical and dance numbers along with a sense of irony throughout. Count that sense of meta-referential humour to director Greta Gerwig, who was responsible for the critically acclaimed Lady Bird and Little Women.

The card for the Barbie movie includes Will Ferrell, Issa Rae, Kate McKinnon, Simu Liu, Michael Cera, America Ferrera, Ncuti Gatwa, Emerald Fennell, Rhea Perlman and Kingsley Ben-Adir. Ferrell, who will play a Mattel CEO, has said that the film is “the ultimate example of high art and low art” and “an amazing comment on male patriarchy and women in society”.

Barbie is set to screen in cinemas on July 21 next year in the United States, though a UK release date looks to be planned for around the same time. The film is set to be followed by another Mattel adaptation, a take on Polly Pocket written and directed by Lena Dunham and starring Lily Collins. Dunham confirmed in October she is still working on the script.