American Girl is a line of books, movies,

doll A doll is a model typically of a human or humanoid character, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have also been used in traditional religious rituals throughout the world. Traditional dolls made of materials such as clay and wood are foun ...

s, and accessories based on

pre-teen Preadolescence is a stage of human development following middle childhood and preceding adolescence.New Oxford American Dictionary. 2nd Edition. 2005. Oxford University Press. It commonly ends with the beginning of puberty. Preadolescence is c ...

girl characters from various periods of history including the 21st century. Several of the characters from the American Girl books have since had their stories adapted into films, the majority of them released as

direct-to-DVD Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, TV series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strategy was p ...

television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

s, with the exception of ''Kit Kittredge: An American Girl'', which was a theatrical release. Starting with the debut of the Maryellen Larkin doll, American Girl has since expressed interest in producing

webseries A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...

based on their characters.

Synopsis

In 2004, American Girl teamed up with

Julia Roberts Julia Fiona Roberts (born October 28, 1967) is an American actress. Known for her leading roles in films encompassing a variety of genres, she has received multiple accolades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, and th ...

' Red Om Films production company to create the first American Girl movie ''Samantha:'' ''An American Girl Holiday''. Samantha was played by

AnnaSophia Robb AnnaSophia Robb (born December 8, 1993) is an American actress, model, and singer. She began as a child actress on television, making her leading debut as the titular role in '' Samantha: An American Girl Holiday'' (2004). She made her feature ...

. In 2005 came the second American Girl TV movie '' Felicity: An American Girl Adventure''. It starred

Shailene Woodley Shailene Diann Woodley (born November 15, 1991) is an American actress. Born in San Bernardino, California, Woodley was raised in Simi Valley, and started modeling at the age of four and began acting professionally in minor television roles. She ...

as Felicity. The third American Girl television movie appeared in 2006. '' Molly: An American Girl on the Home Front'' featured Maya Ritter as Molly. The first American Girl movie to appear in theaters was '' Kit Kittredge: An American Girl''; it opened in wide release on July 2, 2008. It was produced by Picture House. Kit was played by

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

nominee

Abigail Breslin Abigail Kathleen Breslin (born April 14, 1996) is an American actress. She rose to prominence with the comedy-drama film ''Little Miss Sunshine'' (2006), for which she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at ...

and notable co-stars included

Stanley Tucci Stanley Tucci Jr. ( ; born November 11, 1960) is an American actor and filmmaker. Involved in acting from a young age, he made his film debut in John Huston's '' Prizzi's Honor'' (1985), and continued to play a variety of supporting roles in fil ...

Chris O'Donnell Christopher Eugene O'Donnell (born June 26, 1970) is an American actor and former model. He played Charlie Sims in '' Scent of a Woman'', Chris Reece in ''School Ties'', D'Artagnan in ''The Three Musketeers'', Jack Foley in the drama film '' ...

Julia Ormond Julia Karin Ormond (born 4 January 1965) is an English actress. She rose to prominence by appearing in ''The Baby of Mâcon'' (1993), '' Legends of the Fall'' (1994), '' First Knight'' (1995), '' Sabrina'' (1995), '' Smilla's Sense of Snow'' (1 ...

and

Joan Cusack Joan Mary Cusack (; born October 11, 1962) is an American actress. She received nominations for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in the comedy-drama '' Working Girl'' (1988) and the romantic comedy '' In & Out'' (1997 ...

. The first Girl of the Year movie was entitled '' An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong''. Chrissa was portrayed by

Sammi Hanratty Samantha Hanratty (born September 20, 1995) is an American actress. Her first lead was in 2009, portraying Chrissa Maxwell in '' An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong''. In 2011, she played the role Whitney Brown in the film '' The Greening o ...

. It was released by HBO directly to DVD on January 6, 2009. McKenna Brooks, the "Girl of the Year 2012", has a movie named '' McKenna Shoots for the Stars'' released July 3, 2012. The movie, starring

Jade Pettyjohn Jade Pettyjohn (born November 8, 2000) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as McKenna Brooks in '' An American Girl: McKenna Shoots for the Stars'', as Summer on the Nickelodeon television series '' School of Rock'', as Lexie Ric ...

as McKenna, started filming in July 2011 and aired on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

July 14, 2012. Saige Copeland, Girl of the Year 2013, has a movie named '' Saige Paints the Sky'' released July 2, 2013. The movie, starring Sidney Fullmer as Saige, was released on NBC July 13, 2013. A film based on Girl of the Year 2014 Isabelle Palmer entitled '' Isabelle Dances Into the Spotlight'' was released July 22, 2014, starring Erin Pitt as the title character. A film based on Girl of the Year 2015 Grace Thomas entitled '' An American Girl: Grace Stirs Up Success'', with

Olivia Rodrigo Olivia Isabel Rodrigo (born February 20, 2003) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She gained recognition in the late 2010s with her lead roles on the Disney television programs '' Bizaardvark'' and '' High School Musical: The Musi ...

playing the title role, was released June 23, 2015. In November 2015, short independent films were uploaded on American Girl's

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

page, based on the Maryellen Larkin and Julie Albright characters, the latter in lieu of the previously announced musical film project slated in 2007. The films star Harlie Galloway and Jolie Ledford as Maryellen and Julie, respectively, and marks American Girl's venture into digital content and independent film production. A live-action web special based on Melody Ellison's stories entitled ''Melody, 1963: Love Has to Win, an American Girl Story'' was released by

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

, starring

Marsai Martin Caila Marsai Martin (born August 14, 2004) is an American actress, best known for her role as Diane Johnson on the ABC sitcom ''Black-ish'' (2014–2022). In 2019, Martin starred in the comedy film '' Little'', which she also produced, becomin ...

as the title character. ''Love Has to Win'' will then be followed by ''An American Girl Story - Maryellen 1955: Extraordinary Christmas'', starring Alyvia Alyn Lind as Maryellen Larkin and to be released by Amazon on November 25, 2016. Set in 1976 San Francisco, Ivy Ling is a Chinese-American who struggles to find a balance between her two cultural identities. With the help of her best friend, Julie Albright, Ivy makes a tough call on two important events in her life when her gymnastics tournament and family's Chinese New Year dinner land on the same day. The movie ''An American Girl Story - Ivy & Julie 1976: A Happy Balance'' was released by

, starring Nina Lu as Ivy Ling, and Hannah Nordberg as Julie Albright.

Films and DVD release dates

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:American Girl Films Film series introduced in 2004 Films based on Mattel toys American film series American independent films Children's film series