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It’s hard to understate just how much of a global phenomenon Barbie was. Boosted by its unlikely partnership with Christopher Nolan’s Oscar-winning biopic Oppenheimer, Greta Gerwig‘s feminism-fueled comedy wasn’t just a box office smash; it was also a critical darling. The Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling-led favorite was nominated for an impressive eight Academy Awards, sadly only winning a single trophy for Best Original Song.
But the biggest repercussion of Barbie‘s monocultural mania is the indication to studio executives that audiences are hungry for toy-based movies, especially those from Mattel. The latest of this new film phenomenon is Matchbox: The Movie, based on the toy brand of the same name that originated in 1953. The film first hit streaming on October 9 and was immediately met with reviews that couldn’t be further from Barbie‘s.
There is little chance that Matchbox: The Movie ends up as part of the awards conversation. “The stellar cast deserves so much better than this,” said Shawn Van Horn in one of several poor reviews the film received, with the cast in question led by John Cena and including Sam Richardson, Jessica Biel, Arturo Castro, Teyonah Parris, and Danai Gurira. But these poor reviews haven’t stopped the film from proving popular on streaming. At the time of writing, Matchbox: The Movie has surpassed the 30-day mark on the Apple TV top ten in the U.S., and ranks as the most-watched movie on the platform worldwide. Extraction‘s Sam Hargrave directed the film, with David Coggeshall writing the script.
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A ‘Barbie’ Star Tops the Apple TV Charts
Matchbox: The Movie might’ve hit an impressive streaming milestone, but it’s not currently the most-watched movie on Apple TV in the U.S. That title goes to Barbie star Ryan Gosling‘s 2016 gem, The Nice Guys, in which he starred alongside Russell Crowe as a pair of unlikely investigators wrapped up in a conspiracy. It might not have proven a hit upon arrival, but a decade later, The Nice Guys is considered one of the defining cult classics of the 2010s and one of the best modern installments in both Gosling and Crowe’s careers.
Matchbox: The Movie has surpassed the 30-day mark on the Apple TV top ten in the U.S. Make sure to stay tuned to Collider for all the latest streaming stories.
- Release Date
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October 9, 2026
- Runtime
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127 minutes
- Writers
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David Coggeshall
- Producers
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Dana Goldberg, David Ellison, Don Granger, Jules Daly, Robbie Brenner, Ynon Kreiz
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https://collider.com/apple-tv-matchbox-streaming-success-november-2026/
Jake Hodges
Almontather Rassoul




