Barbie was an absolute phenomenon. The film dominated the culture upon release and grossed an incredible $1.4 billion worldwide. So naturally, Warner Bros. was adamant that a Barbie sequel had to happen, but time is running out.
The Barbie Sequel is Stalled
According to a report from the New York Times, the Barbie sequel hasn’t made much progress as the studio still hasn’t closed deals with Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, or writer/director Greta Gerwig. And if a deal isn’t reached by December… the rights to Barbie will revert back to Mattel. Cue the ticking clock.
Similar to the arrangement for the first movie, Mattel will receive a percentage of the sequel’s gross profits, but securing Robbie, Gosling, and Gerwig has proved more difficult. Gosling is reportedly asking for $20 million, and the offers have also included a cut of the profits once the movie reaches a certain box-office threshold. However, Warner Bros.’ David Zaslav apparently thought the deals were too generous and wouldn’t approve them.
A spokeswoman for Warner Bros. disputed that claim, saying that talent representatives haven’t countered since declining the last offer in May.
Warner Bros. co-chairs, Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca, said in a statement: “We have a rights deal with Mattel in place and have made a series of big offers to try and finalize deals to make the next ‘Barbie’ film. Unfortunately, we have been unable to reach an agreement thus far.“
Should There Even Be a Sequel?
Yes, Barbie was huge, and Warner Bros. obviously wants another shot at making another billion (or more), but does it need a sequel? I would argue that it doesn’t. The first one just felt like a perfect storm, and when a sequel does happen, because you know it will eventually, I can’t imagine it having the same impact. I also look at Joker, another Warner Bros. film that was wildly successful and had a sequel fast-tracked… and I think we all know what happened there.
In fact, Margot Robbie was skeptical about the chances of a follow-up when asked several years ago. “It funny, that knee-jerk reaction in this day and age for everyone to immediately ask about a sequel,” she said. “I don’t think it was like that 20 years ago. This wasn’t designed to be a trilogy.“
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