A THR report is making the rounds on this Friday evening and it’s quite the interesting one.
Supposedly, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling did not have deals in their original contacts to return for a “Barbie” sequel. This is unusual situation given most big franchises would snap up their talent in options before the movie is released.
As for Greta Gerwig, months before the first movie was released, Warner Bros tried to introduce a deal for her to direct a sequel. Her agency halted talks on a deal until “Barbie” was released in theaters. Since there’s currently a writers strike, negotiations will have to wait.
So there are currently no options or deals in place for the main “Barbie” trio. This means that Gerwig, Gosling and Robbie, if they do sign, would be pocketing a lot of money for the sequel. I can’t see Warner Bros not overpaying to have them all back.
Mattel has already expressed a desire to make this sequel, but director and co-writer Gerwig confessed last month that she doesn’t really have any ideas for a second movie:
At this moment, it's all I've got. I feel like that at the end of every movie, like I'll never have another idea and everything I've ever wanted to do, I did. I wouldn't want to squash anybody else's dream but for me, at this moment, I'm at totally zero.
“Barbie” is about to hit the $1 billion mark worldwide. Most movies that make this kind of money would already have a sequel in pre-development. The last movie to reach the billion dollar mark was this past April’s “Super Mario Bros” and, of course, a sequel is already in development for that one.
It’ll be interesting to see what Gerwig decides to do when it comes to a “Barbie” sequel. Last month, she told The New Yorker that her ambition was “not to be the biggest woman director, but [rather] a big studio director.” It’s now a fait accompli.
Gerwig is next supposed to tackle a ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ adaptation for Netflix. That’ll probably come before any ‘Barbie’ sequel.