Development of a Barbie sequel has stalled as Warner Bros. fails to reach salary agreements with stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, and director Greta Gerwig. The studio faces a December deadline to finalize these deals before the film rights revert to Mattel, potentially killing the project’s current iteration.
The 2023 phenomenon that made an estimated $1.5bn (£1.1bn) at the box office seemed destined for a franchise. Instead, the project is in limbo. While director Greta Gerwig and her writing partner Noah Baumbach have confirmed they have an idea for a sequel and are ready to begin writing
, the financial framework remains a battlefield.
The $20 Million Impasse and Profit Disputes
At the heart of the deadlock are the demands of the original creative team, all of whom are represented by the agency CAA. Ryan Gosling, who earned an Oscar nomination for his role as Ken, is reportedly asking for $20m (£14.8m) to return. This figure represents a significant jump from the first film’s structure, where Gosling’s compensation was tied to box office targets.
The friction extends beyond a flat fee. According to aol.com, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav rejected offers that would have given the stars a cut of the film’s profits, provided specific box office targets were met, alongside Gosling’s $20 million upfront payday.
“We have a rights deal with Mattel in place and have made a series of big offers to try and finalise deals to make the next Barbie film. Unfortunately, we have been unable to reach an agreement thus far.”
Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca, Warner Bros. Pictures co-chairs
Warner Bros. has pushed back against the narrative that the CEO simply “balked” at the terms. A studio spokesperson claimed that over three years, the studio made a half dozen offers
to the creative team, and that the most recent offer was among the largest the studio has ever made for a film. The spokesperson noted that representatives declined the offer and no counter has been made to date
.
The December Deadline and Mattel’s Rights
The studio isn’t just fighting over percentages; they are fighting a clock. If Warner Bros. cannot secure deals with Robbie, Gosling, and Gerwig by December, the film rights will revert to Mattel. This creates a high-stakes “all-or-nothing” scenario for the studio.
Should the rights return to the toy company, Mattel could theoretically partner with a different studio, but the cost would be the loss of the first film’s DNA. A Warner Bros. spokesperson confirmed that in the event of a reversion, Mattel cannot move toward with any of the original elements from the first film
, and the original trio—Robbie, Gosling, and Gerwig—could not be involved.
This puts Margot Robbie in a unique position. As the producer via her company LuckyChap Entertainment, Robbie has a deep-rooted partnership with the studio. While she reportedly earned around $50 million from the first film in salary and bonuses, her future projects with the studio—including Oceans (set to release June of 2027) and Wuthering Heights (early 2025)—remain separate from the Barbie deadlock.
Warner Bros.’ High-Stakes Portfolio Shift
The studio’s hesitation to meet these “eye-watering” demands likely stems from a broader period of instability. While Barbie was the highest-grossing movie of 2023 and one of only 53 movies in box office history to make over $1 billion, not accounting for inflation, recent high-budget bets have not fared as well.
Productions such as The Bride and the DC Comics film Supergirl underperformed this year and failed to recoup their costs. Additionally, the studio’s strategic growth has been hampered by legal hurdles; a planned merger with Paramount was put on hold last month following a temporary injunction won by 12 US states.
For Warner Bros., the risk is twofold: paying a premium for a sequel that may not replicate the “Barbenheimer” cultural lightning strike, or losing the IP entirely to Mattel. With the rights on the line and the creative team holding the keys to the original story elements, the studio is currently staring down a December cliff with no counter-offer on the table.
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