How Badly Do We Need a Barbie 2?

Barbie was a good movie. We don’t need another one. At least not for the millions and millions of dollars tied up in its back-and-forth salary negotiations.

Take this as no disrespect to Barbie the film or Barbie herself. Again, it was a fine movie, and I understand that $1.5 billion in revenue would constitute a sequel in any dream world. But ironically, money is the very thing grinding this hot pink Corvette to a halt. According to a New York Times report published Friday, Barbie 2 is in limbo as Warner Bros. is stuck in a stalemate with Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, and Greta Gerwig over salary negotiations. 

Per the NYT, offers for the principal talent have included a cut of profits if the film reaches a certain level of box-office success and “at least some upfront raises.” The paper cited Gosling’s current asking price as $20 million, and I know Hollywood considers that “normal” for an A-lister like Gosling, but…for a Barbie sequel?! For context, both Gosling and Robbie earned a base salary of $12.5 million for the first film, with additional payouts after the film’s success. (Robbie, who also served as producer, took home $50 million, all told, with box-office bonuses.) These three were instrumental in the film’s success, but CEO David Zaslav is refusing to sign off on the sequel offers, deeming them “too generous.”

“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,” Warner Bros. chairs Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca said in a statement. “Unfortunately, we have been unable to reach an agreement thus far.”

But do we really need a Barbie 2? Last year, the studio hit box-office highs and earned several gold statues after championing original stories. (Sinners, One Battle After Another, Weapons, etc.) Barbie was novel too. It was classic popcorn entertainment with fun music and some feminism 101. So, what would Barbie discover on her second venture to L.A.? Feminism 102? Simone de Beauvoir? Marxism? (Never mind—that would actually be sick). But could we as a society survive another discourse over whether Barbie is too woke and/or not woke enough?

Regardless, the story was complete the way Gerwig left it. So, I would rather see that money put towards greenlighting more original screenplays than lining the already overflowing pockets of Ryan Gosling (And I say that with love and respect, Ryan). But the irony is not lost on me that, given Ken’s discovery of patriarchy in the last film, Gosling is now asking for a $7.5 million pay raise. Our Barbie dream world has become a capitalist nightmare. 

The studio has until December to strike a deal before relinquishing the rights of the Barbie IP back to Mattel, so we’ll see…and who knows, by then, Christopher Nolan might have had time to write his own Oppenheimer 2. 

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