In response to a growing rise of digital and interactive media as well as the gradual decline of the sales in dolls, toys and accessories in the 1980s, Mattel partnered with animation studios to produce films which were broadcast on Nickelodeon in the United States from 2002 and released on home video formats, originally by Family Home Entertainment and successor Lionsgate, then predominantly by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, both until 2017. Since 2001, Barbie, a fashion doll manufactured by American toy and entertainment company Mattel, has starred or featured in 42 CGI or computer-animated feature films and streaming television films which since then has become a core component of an eponymous media franchise.
