A return trip to Barbieland is not going as smoothly as hoped, as negotiations with star Margot Robbie and other key creatives have hit a roadblock.
When director Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” raked in a staggering $1.4 billion at the box office, greenlighting a sequel was a no-brainer for Warner Bros. Discovery.
However, a new report from The New York Times indicates that the highly anticipated sequel is encountering some difficulties before even getting underway.
Negotiations Have Stalled
According to the Times, the studio’s discussions with Gerwig and stars Robbie and Ryan Gosling are not going well.
Negotiations have reportedly been dragging on for months, with the studio offering the trio of share of the profits if the film hits a specific box-office number; however, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav reportedly quashed an earlier deal, feeling it was “too generous.”
The Clock is Ticking
Meanwhile, there’s a timeline in place. If a deal between the studio and the talent isn’t reached by December, the rights will revert back to Mattel, which introduced the first Barbie doll back in the 1950s.
A spokeswoman for Warner Bros. Discovery told the Times that the delay in getting the sequel on track rests on the shoulders of the stars’ and director’s representatives, who received an offer in May and have yet to issue a counteroffer.
The spokeswoman also disputed the Times’ reporting that Zaslav refused to approve the original deal, and put the onus on the talent representatives. Per the spokeswoman, Gosling, Robbie and Gerwig declined the most recent offer, made in May, and have not yet countered with a new one.
The studio’s co-chairs, Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca, issued a statement to the Times.
“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,” the statement reads. “Unfortunately, we have been unable to reach an agreement thus far.”
A Long Time Coming
Reports of a sequel to “Barbie” first emerged back in 2024.
At that time, The Hollywood Reporter claimed that Gerwig and her husband, director Noah Baumbach, had pitched Warner Bros. Discovery on their idea for a sequel, which was said to be in its “early stages.”
For her part, Gerwig has been insistent that she’ll only direct a second “Barbie” movie if the story made sense.
“My North Star is, what do I deeply love? What do I really care about? What’s the story underneath this story?” Gerwig told THR in March 2024. “If I find the undertow, then we get it. If I don’t find an undertow, there’s no more.”
However, a rep for Gerwig and Baumbach insisted that THR’s report was bogus, as did a rep for the studio.
“There is no legitimacy to this reporting,” said Gerwig and Baumbach’s rep, while a Warner Bros. Discovery spokesperson declared, “THR’s reporting is inaccurate.”
A Top-Secret Plot
During a 2023 panel for the Writers Guild of America, Gerwig explained that even if she did have an idea for a “Barbie” sequel, she had no intention of revealing any details about it.
“I find whenever I’ve shared ideas too early, they become bad, then the movie’s not going to be any good,” Gerwig said.
“I don’t like to talk about things too early or pitch things or show treatments too early because it feels like it’s gonna somehow wreck what the movie is,” she added.
