Barbie is easily the movie of the summer as the Margot Robbie helmed hit inches toward a billion-dollar box office.
Those are amazing numbers even in the era of $100 million movie budgets as movie-goers flock to theaters to get their post-COVID film fix.
Barbie was highly anticipated and turned out to be a big movie with an even bigger message.
With that being the case, its message of women’s empowerment became polarizing, with some siding with Barbie and others calling out the feminist messaging mainly from those who haven’t seemed to have seen the movie at all or at least weren’t paying attention.
One thing is for sure, though, everyone is talking about Barbie, and that was the goal all along, right? After all, the movie’s popularity is spilling over big time for Mattel, as Barbie sales soar and little girls everywhere are being introduced or even reintroduced to the iconic dolls.
And that begs the question — will there be another Barbie movie? What are the plans for Barbie 2?
Is Barbie 2 happening?
With the incredible success of the first live-action Barbie movie, it seems like a sequel would be a no-brainer. It turns out that it’s not that simple.
Right now, there is no Barbie 2 in the works, and there’s no telling if and when there will be one.
As The Hollywood Reporter put it, under normal circumstances, a Barbie sequel would happen. Warner Bros. would already be working on bringing back the creative team behind the first and securing actors and writers to ensure Barbie 2 is as successful as the first.
Unfortunately, these aren’t regular times as we’re amid writers and actors on strike simultaneously, effectively shutting down Hollywood as Barbie takes over the box office and dominates pop culture.
That means Warner Bros. can’t hold meetings to secure the writers and actors they need. They must wait until the strikes are over, which could take a long time.
Warner Bros. also missed the mark with the film’s stars, as there was no deal in place for a sequel with Margot Robbie or Ryan Gosling prior to Barbie hitting theaters.
There was also no deal for a sequel put in place for director Greta Gerwig, so it will be an uphill battle and likely will take a lot of time before a Barbie sequel could even begin production. That doesn’t mean there won’t be one in the future, but there is no Barbie 2 in the works as of now.
Here’s what Margot Robbie said about a possible Barbie sequel
Margot Robbie knows that a successful Barbie will likely spur a spinoff, and when it comes to the direction a Barbie 2 movie would take, it could go anywhere.
“It could go a million different directions from this point,” Margot Robbie told Time of a future sequel. “But I think you fall into a bit of a trap if you try and set up a first movie whilst also planning for sequels.”
With the timing of it all, it seems those behind the Barbie live-action world are in a catch-22 as far as creating the next movie as they didn’t plan for Barbie 2, but now, they must wait to organize for what could be a very successful sequel.
Barbie is in theaters now.