All told, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie made $1,447,138,421 in 2023. Well over a billion dollars, all for a film directed by a woman, co-written by a woman, executive produced by a woman, starring dozens of women, all about universal experiences of womanhood and girlhood. And it had some great feminist messages, albeit very “Feminism 101.” Three years ago, I wondered why there wasn’t more talk about a Barbie sequel, even though I knew that Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie had rare contracts without sequel clauses. To this day, I don’t know why Margot and Greta’s teams have waited so long to have these conversations about a sequel. But that’s what’s happening – they’re coming up to a Deceember deadline with Mattel, and negotiations are getting interesting. From the NY Times:
The reception [for Barbie] left Warner Bros. with a clear commercial mandate: Get a sequel into production as soon as possible. But no deal has been reached, and time is running out. Rights to “Barbie” will revert to Mattel, the toy company behind the iconic doll, if Warner Bros. does not make a deal with the principal talent for a sequel by December. This has led to lots of scrambling.
The studio’s deal for the sequel gives Mattel a percentage of the film’s gross profits, according to three people with knowledge of the negotiations, similar to its arrangement on the first movie. But Warner Bros. still needs to reach agreements with the talent involved in the first film, including the writer and director Greta Gerwig and the stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.
The studio chiefs have been negotiating with the talent for months. The offers have included a cut of profit for the principal talent if the film reaches a certain level of box office success, and at least some upfront raises, including paying Mr. Gosling $20 million (his current asking price), two people with knowledge of the talks said. But David Zaslav, the Warner Bros. Discovery chief executive, deemed the offers, including when participation in profits would kick in, too generous and would not sign off, the people said.
A spokeswoman for Warner Bros. put the onus on the talent representatives, saying they declined the last offer, made in May, and have not yet countered with a new one. She disputed that Mr. Zaslav had balked at terms agreed to by his executives. The studio co-chairs, Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca, said in a statement: “We have a rights deal with Mattel in place and have made a series of big offers to try and finalize deals to make the next ‘Barbie’ film. Unfortunately, we have been unable to reach an agreement thus far.”
…Mattel declined to comment on the negotiations. In the past few years, under its chief executive, Ynon Kreiz, the company has become much more savvy and aggressive when it comes to Hollywood dealmaking. Mr. Kreiz has previously said he wants to avoid these sorts of delays. “We expect projects to move and be in active development,” he said in an interview in May regarding his strategy. “We don’t want to sit on the back burner.”
Should Mattel walk away from Warner Bros., the toymaker would have to develop “Barbie” from scratch. The company would not be allowed to take story elements or the talent to another studio.
The negotiations over the sequel are happening because Ms. Gerwig and her lead actors did not want language in their contracts about a sequel when they signed on to make the first “Barbie,” three people with knowledge of the talks said. Studios often push hard to include contract terms about sequels in original deals, but the studio wanted Ms. Gerwig to write and direct the movie, so Warner Bros. made a calculated risk and proceeded without a promised sequel. If a deal is made, it will still take years for the movie to hit theaters.
Yet, according to the people, Ms. Gerwig, who is finishing up “Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew” for Netflix, and her writing partner and husband, Noah Baumbach, have made it clear in negotiations that they have a story they want to tell and are ready to begin writing. This, too, is being used as a point of leverage. Warner Bros. doesn’t know what the idea is, and the pair won’t tell the studio, or begin writing, until the deal is done, the people said.
God, I have so much respect for Margot, Greta and Ryan for the way they’re handling these negotiations. I respect the fact that they didn’t have sequel options built into their initial contracts too – they knew Barbie was going to be a huge gamble, but they also knew that if they landed the plane, it would be massive. That’s the calculation most actors and directors make as well – that if their film is successful, they’ll make the real money on the sequel. Greta and Ryan certainly feel that way (as they should), although I remember that Margot already had a great backend deal with Warner Bros, one which ensured at least $50 million to Margot and her production company once the film was so successful. Still, she’s clearly on Greta and Ryan’s side, and they seem to be working as a team. I think Warner Bros should pay up. This team has already proven that they can deliver. I love the part about Gerwig not revealing her idea as well. Finally, some people who know how to negotiate!!!
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Cover Images. Promotional image courtesy of Warner Bros.
