American Girl Doll News

Today was Paramount’s presentation for their upcoming year of movies. As you may know, Paramount just got the rights to make an American Girl movie, so once I noticed it was happening, I kept refreshing every single film news site for even the teeniest update on the AG movie… And guess what they announced today for AG? NOTHING!!!! That’s right, AGDN readers! I delusionally searched for news for the AG movie - even though it was just announced four months ago - in hopes of hearing something. And nothing happened!!! Technically, something did happen. I’ve been watching the Avatar The Last Airbender cartoon lately, and they just announced a new trilogy for that … but while that’s a win for me personally, is that an American Girl related win? NO! So I sorta did this all for nothing! I’m not even sure why I’m making this post. I guess it’s just to tell you guys that I tried, I had my eyes peeled, but literally nothing AG-related happened. Oh well, there’s always next year…

Today is Nanea's birthday. She was born this day in 1932, which makes her 92 today!

April and May are the most common months for American Girl dolls to have their birthdays, so I figured it would be cool if I could post the birthday outfits for the American Girl dolls! Back when Pleasant Rowland owned American Girl, every doll had a birthday outfit, but once Mattel bought the company, there were less birthday outfits made, but still, some dolls had them! Here's the birthday outfits, in birth date order: Melody's Birthday Outfit released in 2017 and retired in 2019. Josefina's Feast Day Finery released in 1998 and retired in 2018. Rebecca's Movie Dress released in 2009 and retired in 2018. Addy's Birthday Pinafore and Snood released in 1994 and retired in 2013. Nanea's Tropical Birthday Outfit released in 2018 and retired in 2021. Felicity's Spring Gown with Pinner Apron and Pompon released in 1991 and retired in 2009. Molly's Birthday Outfit was released in 1987, retired in 2013 and rereleased in 2022. Julie has had 2 Birthday Outfits, 1 released in 2008 and retired in 2015, another released in 2020 and retired in 2023. Maryellen's Birthday Dress released in 2015 and retired in 2018. Kit's Birthday Outfit released in 2001 and retired in 2015, it was brought back for a limited time in 2023. Samantha's Pinafore Dress released in 1987 and retired in 2008. Kirsten's Birthday Outfit released in 1987 and retired in 2009. Saige's Sparkle Dress was only available in 2013, just like Saige. Caroline's Birthday Dress was released in 2012 and retired in 2015. What's your favorite American Girl birthday outfit?

Today is Maritza's birthday! She was born in 2008, making her 16 today.

Today is Addy's birthday! She was born in 1855, making her 169 today.

Molly McIntire is the April 2024 Doll of the Month! Molly McIntire is from the fictional town of Jefferson, Illinois during the home front in World War II in 1944. Molly is a girl who loves tap dancing, animals, hanging out with her friends Linda and Susan, and hates math. Her life changes forever when her father is sent overseas to work as a medic in World War II, and over the course of 2 years, she grows and matures while waiting for her father to come home. Molly was released in 1986, as one of the original American Girl dolls, and was initially retired at the end of 2013 before making a brief comeback in Costco stores in 2018, then another brief comeback to celebrate American Girl's anniversary in 2021, then permanently rejoining the historical lineup in 2022.

I recently have been really lucky - I was able to go to AGP Nashville two days in a row! I didn't take any pictures today, but I do have these photos from yesterday that I forgot to post of the kitchen. I did post photos of the kitchen last weekend, but I was in Charlotte for spring break, and now that I'm back in Nashville for my last month of freshman year before the semester ends, I figured I'd share Nashville's display!

Today is Rebecca's birthday! She was born this day in 1905, making her 119 today.

I've seen some people asking around, "when is the next American Girl release?" Now that the releases aren't predictable, like they were up until a few months ago, it's been hard for me to figure out exactly when the next release will be. But I do have a clue as to when it potentially could be... So. Julie's journal is coming out on May 7th. That's a Tuesday. Usually, AG products either release on a Monday or a Thursday, so the release could either be on Monday, May 6th, or Thursday, May 9th. Speaking of those days... May 6th is Lila's birthday... do you think AG would give her new things on that day to celebrate? Tomorrow marks 6 months since she debuted, after all...

There will be a reunion concert of the cast members from the original plays at the American Girl places that ran at the original 3 American Girl stores from 1998 to 2008 on April 21 at 7 pm Eastern. The concert will take place at the 54 Below in New York City, and will also be livestreamed. "This performance will also be livestreamed. For tickets and more information, click here. We’re Back Together Again! Join us at 54 Below for a night of memories and music featuring songs from Circle of Friends: An American Girls Musical and The American Girls Revue. It will be an unforgettable celebration of the music by Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford, reuniting some original cast members for the first time since September, 2008. Take a trip down memory lane with performances of “Fly Like the Wind,” “Flying Solo,” “Follow Your Heart,” and more! Directed by former cast members Morgan Hecker and Lindsay Wormser. Featuring: Kathryn Brunner (“Awkwafina is Nora from Queens”, active at AG from 2005-2008, including The American Girls Revue, Circle of Friends, and various holiday seasons as an AG Ambassador) Lila Coogan (Mary Poppins Broadway, Anastasia 1st national tour, active at AG in 2006 in the American Girls Review) Brooke Dobossy (active at AG during Circle of Friends) Hillary Fisher (The Notebook Broadway, active at AG from the age of 11 years old) Morgan Hecker (Dr. Seuss’s How The Grinch Stole Christmas 1st national tour, played Felicity and Kirsten in Circle of Friends) Cameron Anika Hill (Dear Evan Hansen Broadway, active at AG, and she said working at AG was the peak of her career!) Jessica Kundla (“Law and Order: Organized Crime”, her first job was at AG) Mikie Sakanaka (played Samantha, Molly and Kaya for 3.5 years in over 500 shows) Gina Santare (appeared in The American Girls’ Revue, Circle of Friends, and the American Girls’ Holiday Show) I'll admit it- I've never listened to The American Girls Revue or Circle of Friends. But I have been wanting to get to it for a while, and now seems like the perfect time!

Here is the poll for Doll of the Month for April 2024!

Ah, Hollywood - from my personal experiences, I have learned that nothing's a guarantee there until it's 100% absolutely perfectly confirmed. You guys know how long I've been trying to make a certain movie I made as an AGSM four years ago into a real movie? Yeah, that long. Along the way, I've hit many highs and lows, periods where I was sure it was happening only to get my hopes crushed. I thought we were going to get into production three separate times over said four years, only for something as minor as the fate of another movie or an intern misunderstanding the company's submission rules to crush those hopes. Luckily, I think I'm on the right path now - I have an assistant director now (here's a fun bit of trivia - her favorite American Girl doll is Rebecca!), a casting director that worked with Zendaya and on the Madame Web movie, and am submitting my script EVERYWHERE - so fingers crossed. But enough rambling about my own life. While thinking about all of that, I thought about the two - no wait, three - no wait, five! - American Girl doll movies that were considered, but never entered production. Three were for specific dolls, while the other two were blanket American Girl movies based on the entire line. We only know a bit of what those movies would have entailed, but I tried to gather as much as possible for this list! So, here goes! Julie: An American Girl Musical - When the Kit movie was premiering in theaters in July 2008, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, who produced the original 4 American Girl movies (Samantha, Felicity, Molly and Kit), said that the next doll they were going to make a movie for was Julie, and it would be a musical released in movie theaters. The rumored release date was 2012, and there are archives of it being still in development for as long as 2010, but I assume after Kit's movie did poorly at the box office, no studio would commit to releasing it in theaters, leading to AG to pivot to modern-based direct-to-DVD films like McKenna (which DID release in 2012), Saige, Isabelle, Grace and Lea. An American Girl: Tenney - There were no reports of this one being fully in production, but American Girl did post some filming snippets in 2016. I scoured the AGDN archives for reports on this happening, as my blog was active in 2016, but I couldn't find the specific posts - however, I did find a post from Small Dolls In A Big World, a site that was active in 2016 (but is no longer active) with the images. As Tenney wasn't the Girl of the Year like originally plannet and AG pivoted from direct-to-DVD releases to streaming releases with partners like Prime Video, Tenney's movie was quietly cancelled without even being announced. Original Film American Girl Movie - This was only announced in one article in June 2018, but Original Film, the production company that would go on to make the Sonic the Hedgehog movies, briefly partnered with Mattel Films to make an American Girl movie. There was an announced search for writers, but nothing materialized, as the project was clearly canned seven months later... American Girl: Kavi Sharma - The Movie - Another one-line mention in an article, but at the same time that Corinne's movie was greenlit and put into production by HBO Max and Cartoon Network in May 2022, it was announced that a second American Girl movie was going to be in production and premiere in 2023. Due to the release date, I assumed this was for Girl of the Year 2023, who ended up being Kavi, but due to HBO Max cancelling projects in production, especially kids and family content, the fate of the two movies were in limbo. Luckily, Corinne's movie was saved by Amazon Prime and Netflix, but by the time the projects got canned... Corinne's movie was already done. Kavi's wasn't even filmed yet. So while Corinne got saved, Kavi didn't... MGM/Picturestart American Girl Movie - A new wave of "An American Girl movie is coming!" articles came in February 2019, when MGM and producer Erik Feig of Picturestart took the rights from Original Film to make a live-action American Girl movie intended for release in theaters. However, a few years later, MGM got bought by Amazon, and much like what happened to Kavi's movie, a change in ownership could mean the cancellation of projects. So MGM let the rights expire, and now, the theatrical American Girl movie is in development at Paramount Pictures and Temple Hill Productions, with Lindsey Anderson Beer attached to write. And technically, we can count the three times I thought they were going to make Rebelle, right? Haha, just kidding. We're talking official AG movies, not "you made the first version of it a gazillion years ago with your dolls." What AG movie that never got made would you have wanted to see the most? I'll be honest, I'm curious about ALL of these, but the two that catch my eye the most are the Kavi movie and the Original Film AG movie - Kavi because, well, she has a special place in my heart and it pains me about how underrated she is, and the Original Film movie just for the hilarity of seeing the same logo Fast and Furious movies start with before an American Girl doll movie.