{"id":811442,"date":"2026-08-12T19:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T19:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/811442\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T19:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T19:24:09","slug":"barbie-2-paused-gerwig-robbie-and-the-failed-deals-blocking-a-sequel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/811442\/","title":{"rendered":"Barbie 2 Paused: Gerwig, Robbie and the Failed Deals Blocking a Sequel"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\u201cDo you guys ever think about dying?\u201d Margot Robbie<\/a> asks at the start of 2023\u2019s \u201cBarbie<\/a>.\u201d It\u2019s one of many moments of existential dread that her character faces on the journey to becoming a real woman.<\/p>\n

\n\tCut to three years later, and Hollywood insiders have spent the past week asking, \u201cDo you guys think \u2018Barbie\u2019 is dead?\u201d Robbie\u2019s version may well be. The proposition has spun some of the most famous and powerful people in show business \u2014 Greta Gerwig<\/a>, Robbie, David Zaslav, Bryan Lourd, Ryan Gosling, Noah Baumbach and Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy \u2014 into a pink world of chaos.<\/p>\n

\n\tJaws dropped throughout the industry after The New York Times reported<\/a> recently that a follow-up to \u201cBarbie\u201d \u2014 the highest-grossing movie in Warner Bros<\/a>. history \u2014 was in peril, thanks to stalled deal talks. In what could be his final months running Warner Bros. Discovery, Zaslav has dug in and taken a stand against the team\u2019s massive (but justifiable, per many sources) pay demands. It\u2019s a showdown more dramatic than a \u201cbeach-off \u201d between Ken, Ken, Ken and Ken.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe creative team in discussions is led by co-writer and helmer Gerwig, who became the most successful woman director ever after the first film grossed more than $1.4 billion at the global box office. It also includes co-screenwriter Baumbach, male lead Gosling and Robbie as producer and star. The studio has made more than six offers in the past three years, all of which have been rejected.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe most recent, which came late this spring, is said by a studio source to be the highest Warner Bros. has ever offered for a filmmaking team and its stars (\u201clife-changing money,\u201d one source said). Another deal source disputed this benchmark, saying the price of the \u201cpackage,\u201d the cost of all four, may be historic but individual compensation is not. CAA, which represents all four creatives in a process led by agency bigwig Lourd, has not countered the latest offer. Gerwig\u2019s lawyer Tara Kole is also involved. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe scuttling of a sequel deal comes as WB film chiefs De Luca and Abdy have roughly four months to put another \u201cBarbie\u201d movie into active development \u2014 or the rights to the iconic doll revert to toymaker Mattel. If new contracts don\u2019t materialize, Mattel will not be permitted to use a shred of Gerwig\u2019s \u201cBarbie\u201d as a jumping-off point and will face a full reboot. Gerwig and Baumbach have an idea for a sequel, Variety has confirmed with two sources, but they won\u2019t let one miniature plastic shoe drop on the table before they have signed agreements.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe first thought expressed by many power players who spoke with Variety was \u201cHow?\u201d The Times reported that the original deals for the top creatives included zero obligations for a sequel. Those negotiations were done with a different Warner regime. The Times report said Gerwig did not want to be on the hook for a sequel when her first deal was made. Another source close to the studio said it would be atypical for Warner Bros. Pictures to have asked Gerwig for an option \u2014 given she\u2019d directed few films to that point and had never handled large-scale IP. In other words, from another source: The studio wasn\u2019t sure what it had. Then Gerwig and team set the culture and the box office on fire with \u201cBarbie.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tStill, individuals Variety spoke with at competing studios \u2014 especially in business affairs, the less glamorous but vital department that closes contracts \u2014 were aghast.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe new financial asks from Robbie, Gosling, Gerwig and Baumbach are considerable, sources say. They include pay bumps in upfront fees and generous increases in back-end participation (minus Baumbach, who would only see a fee hike). Gosling is reportedly asking $20 million to reprise his Oscar-nominated role as Ken. Robbie was projected to make roughly $50 million in salary and back end from the first movie, though a studio source said her final compensation will wind up \u201cwell ahead\u201d of that. Gerwig also made tens of millions of dollars the first time around. Those are dizzying numbers to exceed for a sequel that will take years to mount. <\/p>\n

\n\tOne source said the creative team is satisfied with the upfront salaries offered, but less so with the back-end terms. Another disputed the accuracy of both those points. Variety has learned that the team is not asking for first dollar gross, meaning they\u2019d get paid from the box office pot before the studio recoups a dime. But no one except Zaslav, according to some, is saying this team isn\u2019t worth it. Another insider with close knowledge of the deal plainly said that a sequel will not move forward unless Warner Bros. comes around.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHow is it not in the interest of WBD shareholders to have a sequel to the biggest film in the studio\u2019s history?\u201d the source speculated. Numerous high-profile insiders were appalled by the optics of Zaslav, on the precipice of making hundreds of millions of dollars if Paramount\u2019s acquisition of Warner Bros. goes through, thwarting a potential billion-dollar sequel over compensation. Studio insiders say Zaslav, Abdy and De Luca take talent relations seriously, reflected in their most recent (and supposedly historic) contract offers.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cClassic Zas,\u201d one rival exec said summarily of the CEO. Another source advised this debacle be \u201cadd[ed] to the list\u201d of errors the TV-bred executive has made in his tenure, specifically in the movie business. Think shelving \u201cBatgirl\u201d and \u201cCoyote vs. Acme\u201d and taking a tax write-off to trim corporate debt, or greenlighting the $45 million megabomb \u201cThe Alto Knights\u201d with Robert De Niro.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe deal breakdown also creates a headache for Mattel. The company\u2019s fledgling studios unit had a hit out of the gate thanks to the success of \u201cBarbie.\u201d Creative leader Robbie Brenner and CEO Ynon Kreiz surely want to replicate the success of the original. Mattel has a deal ready to go with Warners but needs the filmmaking team on board. Sales of Barbie dolls are also down after a pop in 2023 tied to the movie, and Mattel marketing leadership recently announced that the toy will be heavily rebranded as a fashion icon \u2014 with more clothes and accessories to accompany her on the shelf. Who better to help launch that activation than Robbie, one of the most studied red carpet figures in the world? <\/p>\n

\n\tThe fate of \u201cBarbie\u201d at Warner Bros. may have an unexpected savior in David Ellison, should the mogul win his bid for the iconic company. He could reactivate the Mattel rights and bring the creatives back into the fold. \u201cI bet this would be the first deal he makes,\u201d said a source.<\/p>\n

\n\tRepresentatives for the filmmakers, stars, studio, Mattel and CAA declined to provide comment for this story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cDo you guys ever think about dying?\u201d Margot Robbie asks at the start of 2023\u2019s \u201cBarbie.\u201d It\u2019s one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":811443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[16128,88,120608,39919,5251],"class_list":["post-811442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-barbie","tag-entertainment","tag-greta-gerwig","tag-margot-robbie","tag-warner-bros"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/811443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}