maybe intentions behind the action rather than the perception of the action itself.
An extreme example would be in the latest episode of My Adventures with Superman (great show, slight spoilers), Superman saves an invisible man from getting hit from a truck by stopping the truck and causing a traffic accident.
The intention was to save a guy, the perception of the people was that he caused an accident for no reason (because the guy he saved was invisible).
I'd argue the toy part was relevant for the marketing of the movie. If you change everything to a fictional toy called Narnie, probably no one would watch it even if the movie would probably still be the same.
Barbenheimer marketing helped too.
The point still stands though, movie about toys=! success.
Edge of Tomorrow is based on a japanese book or Manga (I forgot which came first) called All You Need is Kill.
The manga was good, but the movie adaptation was just much much better. The mimics were designed differently and the plot differed enough to make a significant boost.
maybe it was when the mom rescued Barbie from the board of directors?