‘Barbie 2’ Hits Standstill as Warner Bros Fails to Secure Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling and Greta Gerwig Deals
By Katherine McCloud
Courtesy of Warner Bros.
Plans for a ‘Barbie’ sequel have reportedly encountered a major obstacle as Warner Bros. races to secure the return of the original film’s key talent.
According to The New York Times, the studio has until December to reach agreements with Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, and director and co-writer Greta Gerwig. Should negotiations fail, the film rights would revert to Mattel.
Warner Bros. has reportedly spent months negotiating with the trio, offering profit-sharing incentives tied to specific box office targets. However, the report claims Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav refused to approve the proposed terms because he considered the deal “too generous.”
A Warner Bros. spokesperson disputed that account, telling the Times that representatives for the talent rejected an offer submitted in May and have yet to present a counteroffer.
Gerwig and her co-writer Noah Baumbach have reportedly been considering an idea for ‘Barbie 2’ for a while, as in 2024, the pair were in the “early stages” of developing a potential story for the follow-up.
Released in July 2023, Barbie became a major critical and commercial success, earning $1.5 billion worldwide and receiving eight Academy Award nominations. It won the Oscar for best original song for Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell’s “What Was I Made For?”
The film also became a global cultural phenomenon, driven by its elaborate marketing campaign, instantly recognizable pink aesthetic and simultaneous theatrical release alongside Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which inspired the Barbenheimer craze.
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