'American Girl' Live-Action TV Specials Coming, Amazon Studios Producing Mattel Movies

Amazon Studios has just signed a contract with toy company Mattel that will make a lot of girls happy: they're producing four TV specials about American Girl! The company that makes Barbie (and made headlines last week debuting her new body types) will be making four live-action movies, exclusive to Amazon Prime, starring characters from their different lines.

According to Variety, the deal, a multiyear pact with Mattel, buys Amazon Studios the right to create four live-action specials on the franchise, as well as the option to produce shows with the characters' names and likeness.

Out of the four upcoming American Girl specials, two of them will feature characters from their BeForever line, the one dedicated to historic-period dolls. Another one will feature characters from their Girl of the Year line and it's still unclear what the last special will revolve around.

In any case, the first of the four intended specials will be airing later in 2016 exclusively on Amazon Prime, available on U.S., U.K., Germany and Austria.

This won't be the first time the American Girls brand gets the film treatment: back in 2008, Abigail Breslin starred in Kit Kitteridge: An American Girl and later on HBO released an adaptation of An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong. Just last year, there was another project related to the popular dolls, An American Girl: Grace Stirs Up Success, based on 2015 American Girl of the Year Grace Thomas and starring Olivia Rodrigo.

"American Girl resonates strongly with kids and parents alike through its message of self-confidence, adventure, exploration and learning," said Tara Sorensen, head of kids' programming at Amazon Studios, in a recent statement, EnGadget reports. "Their research dives deep and adds rich layers to the IP that are unparalleled in this space which, in turn, will facilitate a truly enriched on-screen experience."

Amazon is currently expanding its kids' content on Prime, which currently includes Just Add Magic, Annedroids and Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street.