| Barney | |
|---|---|
 Logo used since 1996 | |
| Created by | |
| Owners |
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| Years | 1988–present |
| Films and television | |
| Film(s) |
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| Television series |
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| Animated series | Barney's World (2024–present) |
| Direct-to-video |
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| Theatrical presentations | |
| Musical(s) |
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| Games | |
| Video game(s) | Barney's Hide & Seek Game (1993) |
| Miscellaneous | |
| Theme park attraction(s) | A Day in the Park with Barney (1995—2021) |
| Official website | |
| Official website | |
Barney is an American children'smedia franchise created bySheryl Leach,Kathryn O'Rourke Parker andDennis DeShazer, and currently owned byMattel. It centers around the titular character Barney, a purpleanthropomorphicTyrannosaurus rex who conveys educational messages through songs and small dance routines with a friendly, huggable andoptimistic attitude.[3][4][5][6] The franchise consists of three series:Barney & the Backyard Gang (1988—1991), a direct-to-video series consisting of only eight episodes;Barney & Friends (1992—2010), a television series that ran onPBS Kids; andBarney's World (2024–present), a fully computer-animated series airing onCartoon Network'sCartoonito, and which is currently streaming onMax.[7] A film adaptation,Barney's Great Adventure, was released theatrically in 1998, and a second film is in production atMattel Studios andA24, withDaniel Kaluuya serving as director. The franchise is currently distributed by9 Story Media Group, under license fromMattel Television.
While popular with its intended audience,Barney drew severely negative reaction from the older set, who mocked the title character in popular culture through song parodies and comedy routines such as being beaten up byNBA starCharles Barkley on aSaturday Night Live episode.[8] Theanti-Barney phenomenon is the basis of the 2022Peacock documentaryI Love You, You Hate Me.[9]Barney has also received immense praise from parents for being a wholesome yet engaging franchise for children that delves into common, kid-friendly topics.
Barney & the Backyard Gang is an Americandirect-to-video series produced byThe Lyons Group and released in periodic installments from August 29, 1988, to August 1, 1991. The series led to the launch of thechildren's television show,Barney & Friends, which aired onPBS Kids from April 6, 1992, to November 2, 2010.[10] The first three episodes from 1988 and 1989 includeSandy Duncan as Michael and Amy's mother. (At the time, Duncan was starring on theNBC sitcomThe Hogan Family.) Music for theBarney & the Backyard Gang videos was created by Stephen Bates Baltes and Phillip Parker (as with the television series), and Lory Lazarus wrote the first original song produced for Barney, "Friends Are Forever", sung by Duncan. In the first five videos, "I Love You" was sung at the beginning. Although "I Love You" was sung at the end ofBarney Goes to School andBarney in Concert, and later frequently sung at the end of all episodes ofBarney & Friends, it was not featured at the end ofRock with Barney. The series was a regional success, but only a moderate success throughout the rest of the country.[citation needed] Then one day, in 1991, Larry Rifkin, then head ofConnecticut Public Television, rented a Barney video for his daughter Leora.[11] He liked the concept and talked to Leach about possibly putting Barney on television through the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).Rock with Barney was the last video in the series before the television show debuted a year later. Also, only four of the kids from the videos (Michael, Derek, Tina, and Luci) were carried over to the television show.
Barney & Friends ran onPBS Kids from April 6, 1992, to November 2, 2010 along with reruns until 2016. Episodes from seasons 1–9 (as well as seasons 12–13) last for 30 minutes, while episodes from seasons 10–11 (as well as season 14) are split into 15-minute segments. Like theBarney & the Backyard Gang episodesBarney Goes to School andBarney in Concert, "I Love You" was sung at the end of all episodes ofBarney & Friends, with the exception of the primary segments of Seasons 10–11 and 14, which end with the characters singing "A Friend Like You" instead and Barney remaining alive. Reruns aired on Sprout from 2005–2015, and from December 17, 2018, to January 25, 2020, on Sprout's successor network,Universal Kids.
On February 13, 2023, Mattel announced thatBarney would return as a computer-animated series, being co-produced by Mattel and the Canada-based animation studioNelvana, with the deal also including the possibility of animated films and YouTube content to feature the character. The new series would aim for a 2024 delivery window.[7] This was seen as part of a larger trend of Mattel successfully reviving franchises such asMonster High andMasters of the Universe, along with an overall development that included films based on its toys such asHot Wheels,Magic 8 Ball, andMajor Matt Mason.[12]
On May 9, 2023, the title of the series was revealed asBarney's World and thatWarner Bros. Discovery had acquired US television and streaming rights to the series.[13] On October 14, 2024,[14] the series would start streaming onMax andStackTV, and would air onTreehouse TV. The series will premiere on theCartoon Network viaCartoonito on October 18, 2024.[15][16] On the same day, Warner Bros. Discovery announced they had also acquired pay-TV rights in EMEA, APAC and Latin American territories. As with the United States, the show will air onCartoonito channels or blocks while in Latin America the series will air onDiscovery Kids. Select territories would also get episodes onYouTube as well asOSNtv Kidzone.[17] Barney's World would premiere on Cartoonito UK on October 14, 2024.[18]
The first feature-length film,Barney's Great Adventure, follows Barney, along with three young children named Cody, Abby, and Marcella (played byKyla Pratt), as they discover a magical egg in a barn. After learning that the egg is a dream maker, Barney and the gang must return the egg to the barn before it hatches. The film was written byStephen White, directed bySteve Gomer, and produced bySheryl Leach andLyrick Studios. It was released byPolyGram Filmed Entertainment on March 27, 1998, atRadio City Music Hall in New York, USA, and worldwide on April 3, 1998, in North America at the height of Barney's popularity. The film was shot in Quebec, CA. The film received negative reviews from critics and was abox-office bomb, grossing $12 million against a budget of $15 million. This was the third and last film to be produced by Lyrick Studios before it was acquired by and folded intoHIT Entertainment on June 6, 2001. It is also the only theatricalBarney film (several years until production for the second film), as all otherBarney films were direct-to-video productions.
On October 18, 2019,Mattel Studios announced that a secondBarney film was to be produced.[19] On July 2, 2023, it was announced that theBarney film fromAcademy Award winnerDaniel Kaluuya, through his production company 59%, would be aimed at adults and discuss the presumed disenchantment within theMillennial generation.[20] An executive from Mattel said the adaptation would be "surrealistic" and similar toAdaptation andBeing John Malkovich.[21] On February 25, 2025, it was announced thatAyo Edebiri was in talks to star in and write the film forA24.[22]
Barney's Hide & Seek Game is a video game that was released for theSega Genesis on June 1, 1993, bySega in North America and in 1993 byTec Toy in South America. It was based on the children's television seriesBarney & Friends, and it is the first and only video game in theBarney franchise. Educational concepts taught in the game include counting, matching, and problem solving. There is a self-play feature that guides the player to the objective without input from the player.[23] The voice of Barney was recorded by his original voice actorBob West, who also did it on the television show. There are more than one hundred words and two hundred phrases spoken by Barney.[23] In this game, the objective is to move Barney around four themed levels and locate four children along with Baby Bop and five presents that are hiding throughout the level.[24] Should the player find all the children along with Baby Bop and presents in different levels, they would be rewarded with a "special surprise". During the surprise, the purple balloon pop and confetti and streamers fall from above onto excited children, as well as Barney and Baby Bop. Players cannot lose in the game, even if they did not retrieve all the objects and find all the missing children in the level.
A Day in the Park with Barney was a live children's show atUniversal Studios Florida based on the children's television show,Barney & Friends, that opened in 1995 on the former site ofThe Bates Motel Set used inPsycho IV: The Beginning.[25] It also featured “Barney’s Backyard,” a playground area where children could meet Barney during a post-show meet and greet at the Barney Theater. It was one of the few places where Barney's original voice actorBob West was heard and one of Universal Studios' attempts to appeal to the younger generation.
On March 16, 2020, due to the ongoing worldwide outbreak of theCOVID-19 pandemic and itsspread to Florida,A Day in the Park with Barney had temporarily closed alongside the rest of the Universal Orlando Resort. It reopened during the resort's reopening in June 2020, but was closed again on August 9, 2020, which was temporary at the time.[26] On February 3, 2021, Universal Orlando announced that the show was permanently closed, effective that day with attendance declining over the years.[27] The entireBarney courtyard was removed of its theming and the indoor theater and stage was repurposed to DreamWorks Destination, an indoor meet-and-greet with characters fromDreamWorks Animation franchises, such asPo fromKung Fu Panda,Princess Poppy fromTrolls,King Julien fromMadagascar, among others from each franchise.[28]
A new Barney attraction is rumored to be opening atMattel Adventure Park in Arizona and Kansas.
A documentary television special titledBarney Celebrates Children, which explores the positive influence of the titular character on children worldwide, debuted onPBS on December 4, 1994, and hosted byMaria Shriver.
A two-part documentary miniseries titledI Love You, You Hate Me, which centers on theanti-Barney phenomenon, was released onPeacock on October 12, 2022. It features interviews with various cast and crew ofBarney & Friends andBarney & The Backyard Gang, alongside fans and critics of theBarney franchise, offering first-hand accounts of the Barney phenomenon. A trailer was released on September 28, 2022.[29][30][31]
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