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.
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.“
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.“