Barbie 2 blocked by exorbitant fees from Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie?

The $1.4 billion global phenomenon still has no follow-up. At issue: stalled negotiations between Warner Bros. and the main Barbie craftsmen, who are demanding a significant increase in the value of their contracts.

After grossing more than $1.4 billion at the worldwide box office, landing eight Oscar nominations and reigniting Hollywood’s interest in toy adaptations, barbie seemed destined for a sequel. However, three years after its triumph, the project is still in the pipeline. And the reason would be above all financial.

According to the New York Timesnegotiations between Warner Bros. Discovery and the film crew are currently at an impasse. At issue: the refusal of CEO David Zaslav to validate the very significant salary increases requested by Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling to resume their roles of Barbie and Ken. Nominated for an Oscar for best supporting role for his performance, Gosling would like to increase his salary to 20 million dollars, to which would be added profit-sharing on the film’s receipts.

Unlike most Hollywood blockbusters, the main craftsmen of barbie had only signed for one film. Greta Gerwig, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling are therefore not bound by any contract requiring them to return for a sequel. A concession that Warner had accepted at the time in order to convince Gerwig to carry out the project, after years of chaotic development.

The director and her writing partner, Noah Baumbach, have already found an idea for a second film. But they would refuse to present her to the studio until the new contracts are finalized.

Time is running out for Warner. The studio must reach an agreement before December, when the operating rights negotiated with Mattel expire. In the event of failure, the toy manufacturer could recover the license and start from scratch with a new studio, a new director… and a whole new cast.

In a statement, Warner Bros. executives Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca acknowledge that discussions are still ongoing. They claim to have made several important offers in order to launch Barbie 2without reaching an agreement for the moment: “We have a rights agreement with Mattel and have made several significant offers in an attempt to close the deals necessary to make the next Barbie movie. Unfortunately, we have not reached an agreement yet…”

According to the New York TimesWarner would have presented no less than six proposals in three years to the creative team. All would have been refused. A situation which may seem tense, but which remains relatively classic in Hollywood: when no sequel was planned in the initial contracts, the stars generally take advantage of the success of the first film to renegotiate their conditions upwards.