“Do you guys ever think about dying?” Margot Robbie asks at the start of 2023’s “Barbie.” It’s one of many moments of existential dread that her character faces on the journey to becoming a real woman.
Cut to three years later, and Hollywood insiders have spent the past week asking, “Do you guys think ‘Barbie’ is dead?” Robbie’s version may well be. The proposition has spun some of the most famous and powerful people in show business — Greta Gerwig, Robbie, David Zaslav, Bryan Lourd, Ryan Gosling, Noah Baumbach and Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy — into a pink world of chaos.
Jaws dropped throughout the industry after The New York Times reported recently that a follow-up to “Barbie” — the highest-grossing movie in Warner Bros. history — 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’s massive (but justifiable, per many sources) pay demands. It’s a showdown more dramatic than a “beach-off ” between Ken, Ken, Ken and Ken.
The 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.
The 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 (“life-changing money,” one source said). Another deal source disputed this benchmark, saying the price of the “package,” 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’s lawyer Tara Kole is also involved.
The scuttling of a sequel deal comes as WB film chiefs De Luca and Abdy have roughly four months to put another “Barbie” movie into active development — or the rights to the iconic doll revert to toymaker Mattel. If new contracts don’t materialize, Mattel will not be permitted to use a shred of Gerwig’s “Barbie” 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’t let one miniature plastic shoe drop on the table before they have signed agreements.
The first thought expressed by many power players who spoke with Variety was “How?” 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 — given she’d directed few films to that point and had never handled large-scale IP. In other words, from another source: The studio wasn’t sure what it had. Then Gerwig and team set the culture and the box office on fire with “Barbie.”
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Still, individuals Variety spoke with at competing studios — especially in business affairs, the less glamorous but vital department that closes contracts — were aghast.
The 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 “well ahead” 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.
One 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’d 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’t worth it. Another insider with close knowledge of the deal plainly said that a sequel will not move forward unless Warner Bros. comes around.
“How is it not in the interest of WBD shareholders to have a sequel to the biggest film in the studio’s history?” 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’s 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.
“Classic Zas,” one rival exec said summarily of the CEO. Another source advised this debacle be “add[ed] to the list” of errors the TV-bred executive has made in his tenure, specifically in the movie business. Think shelving “Batgirl” and “Coyote vs. Acme” and taking a tax write-off to trim corporate debt, or greenlighting the $45 million megabomb “The Alto Knights” with Robert De Niro.
The deal breakdown also creates a headache for Mattel. The company’s fledgling studios unit had a hit out of the gate thanks to the success of “Barbie.” 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 — 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?
The fate of “Barbie” 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. “I bet this would be the first deal he makes,” said a source.
Representatives for the filmmakers, stars, studio, Mattel and CAA declined to provide comment for this story.
From Variety US