Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig‘s Barbie is more than just a film – it’s a movement.
Since its release, the film has inspired a new wave of pink fashion, promoting punters to actually go back to the cinemas to watch it on the big screen and gave the season’s bro-iest film, Oppenheimer, a run for its money. And it’s done pretty fkn well at the box office too, managing to gross more than $850 million and it’s on track to hit a whopping one billion in earnings. To top it all off, it has become the highest-grossing film directed solely by a female director of all time.
Now that’s a slay.
But it’s Hollywood, baby, and I’m sure as soon as the big dogs under the shiny lights of the entertainment world realised Barbie was incredibly profitable, I reckon the chit-chatter began across the boardrooms about whether there would be a sequel for the plastic fantastic film.
In fact, on the day that I was lucky enough to have a chat with Margot and Greta just before the film premiered on July 20, reports popped up that Mattel’s CEO Ynon Kreiz was keen on making a sequel. Sentiments he echoed again just this week while speaking to Deadline.
“We haven’t announced anything, and it’s probably a bit early to talk about sequels, but obviously, with the success of the film…that would invite more opportunities,” he told the publication.
“We operate in an industry where everyone is looking for these moments, for these brands, for these cultural events. And they happen, but they don’t happen that often. We expect the brand to continue to grow, we expect to have more opportunities in content — and this is not just film, this is television and other areas.”
But when I posed the question to Margot and Greta during their press run in Australia, they seemed a little bit shocked by Ynon’s fairly presumptuous attitude.
Don’t believe me? Check out their response below.
Although they were surprised by his statement, the pair weren’t ruling anything out.
“I feel like the movie is so rich in all these different characters,” Greta said.
“I am interested in all these characters so it’s definitely a possibility. It is this amazing, rich world.”
“We just gotta get this one right first,” Margot chimed in, with Greta joking that this “boat’s not even left the dock,” referring to the recent film.
Obviously, it’s not a big unanimous yes but with Greta’s interest in more characters in the Barbie world, and knowing the CEO is on board, it looks like there’s a solid chance a Barbie sequel is a possibility.
Personally, I’m campaigning for a movie starring Michael Cera‘s Allan. Despite being ostracised from the entire Barbie world for not being a Ken, Allan stuck by his guns and supported the Barbies when the Ken’s turned Barbie World into one big mojo dojo casa house. Now that’s a dude who I’d watch another whole movie about.
But until my movement to get Allan his own flick gains traction, we can expect Mattell to movie-ify a bunch of their other toys. A Polly Pocket story is already confirmed as a feature film starring Lily Collins and directed by Lena Dunham.
Hell, there’s even a live-action film about Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots starring Vin Diesel in the works. While the concept is questionable, if anyone can bring it to life, it’s Vin Diesel.
(Image Source: Getty Images / Gareth Cattermole)
