It’s unexpected Movie Placement Monday in Forza Horizon 5 today, as Playground Games is distributing two new cars to all players for free to celebrate the upcoming Barbie movie.
Players will be able to get their hands on a custom version of the recently added Hummer EV, listed under the GMC brand as the “Barbie Film” Hummer EV, and a unique “Barbie Movie” version of the Chevrolet Corvette C1. That’s also an EV and, like the film car, sports four seats.
The Corvette at least has a starring role in the film and trailers, as the ride of Margot Robbie who plays the titular doll — one of very many Barbies living in her native Barbie Land. We’d assume that the Hummer belongs to Ken, or at least one specific Ken among several, as played by Ryan Gosling.
It turns out that life in plastic isn’t all that fantastic for Robbie’s Barbie, who ends up venturing into the real world seemingly in order to discover herself. There she’ll encounter Will Ferrell’s un-named Mattel CEO who, understandably, wants her back in her box.
Mattel is of course the toy brand behind not only Barbie but Hot Wheels, which already has its own Forza Horizon 5 ties by virtue of the DLC expansion pack that launched in July 2022.
All players will be able to pick up the Hummer and Corvette simply by logging into FH5 at some point between today and August 14. The cars will appear in the Gifts section of the Message Center in the My Horizon tab in the pause menu, and you only need to hit okay on the messages to redeem them.
In addition, Playground Games is staging a Barbie contest in the game. You’ll need to create anything Barbie-themed — whether its a livery, a photo, or something in EventLab — and share it on social media with the #FH5BarbieMovie hashtag before July 14 to be in with a chance of a special Barbie prize bundle.
While it’s not clear what’s in the bundle, there’s yet more Barbie tie-ins as Microsoft is releasing a special model of the Xbox Series X in bright Barbie pink set into its own version of the DreamHouse.
There’s also custom Barbie faceplates for the Xbox Wireless Controller, based on clothing worn by Barbie and Ken in the movie itself. These items will be part of a competition running on social media and through Microsoft Rewards starting on July 10.
If that’s all whetted your appetite for the Barbie movie, you’ll be able to see it in cinemas around the world starting July 21.
