"Barbie 2" Film Plan Delayed, Production House Refuses to Pay More

Margot Robbie (Warner Bros.)

JAKARTA - The Barbie 2 film project is threatened to be canceled after the Warner Bros. production house reportedly refused to raise the salaries of its two main actors: Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. The sequel to the first film which was successful with 1.4 billion has a long conflict.

Citing Variety, The New York Times reported that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav was reluctant to raise the pay and profit-sharing with Robbie and Gosling to join the sequel.

Ryan Gosling, who received an Oscar nomination for his role as Ken, is said to have asked for a fee of up to 20 million dollars, but Warner Bros. representatives responded by saying that there was no agreed framework agreement and it was withdrawn.

Warner Bros. is known not to require Barbie film actors to join the sequel. The reason is that they recruited the two actors so that Greta Gerwig would join as a director after the change of director before the film was produced.

Gerwig and her husband, Noah Baumbach, who wrote the screenplay for Barbie, also had ideas for a sequel, but did not share the concept with the production house until the agreement was official.

Now, Warner Bros. is trying to determine an agreement before the production rights return to Mattel as the owner of the Barbie IP in December 2026. If it fails, then Mattel can make a new film with a new director, cast and concept.

"We have an agreement with Mattel and have made some big offers for the next Barbie movie. Unfortunately, we haven't reached a point of agreement so far," said Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca, co-chair of Warner Bros.

The negotiation practice carried out by Robbie and Gosling is a common practice considering the two of them only have contracts for one film.

The Barbie film premiered in July 2023 and created popularity and huge profits for Mattel as the owner of the toy IP. On several occasions, Margot Robbie, who is also a producer, said that there were no plans to develop the Barbie film but they were always open to the opportunity.

"Everything was made for Barbie and that's how Greta works. She finished the film with the feeling that she couldn't make another film because she put everything into it. So I don't know what was done to fill that glass for her," said Margot Robbie.

In the midst of negotiations for the sequel, the actors are also busy with other projects. Margot Robbie is filming Ocean's 11, which is scheduled to be released in June 2027. Together with the production house he founded, LuckyChap, Robbie also produced the film Nasty.

Ryan Gosling has just been confirmed to star in Ghost Rider with Marvel. Director Greta Gerwig is also preparing for the promotion of the Narnia film with Netflix starting early next year.