The Barbie sequel has reportedly hit a bump in the road, with pressure mounting to get a deal secured before the end of the year.

Warner Bros. has until December to reach a deal with the stars of the 2023 film, Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, as well as director and co-writer Greta Gerwig, before the rights revert to Mattel, according to a new report from the New York Times.

The studio has reportedly been negotiating with the talent for months, offering them a share of the profits if the film reaches certain box office milestones – notable given the 2023 original was a cultural phenomenon.

The publication also claimed that David Zaslav, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO, had declined to approve the proposed deal because he believed it was “too generous”.

A Warner Bros. spokesperson disputed that characterisation, telling The Times that talent representatives declined an offer made back in May and had not yet submitted a counteroffer.

Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie in ‘Barbie’ CREDIT: Jaap Buitendijk/Warner Bros.

“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,” studio co-chairs Pam Abdy and Michael De Luca said in a statement. “Unfortunately, we have been unable to reach an agreement thus far.”

Rumours of a Barbie sequel were first sparked when Robbie gave an interview to TIME in 2023, saying she’d been involved in conversations around a potential follow-up film. “It could go a million different directions from this point,” she said at the time. “But I think you fall into a bit of a trap if you try and set up a first movie whilst also planning for sequels.”

However, she later appeared to shoot down rumours that there would ever be a Barbie 2, saying: “I think we put everything into this one, we didn’t build it to be a trilogy,” she said. “Greta put everything into this movie, so I can’t imagine what would be next.”

In December 2024, The Hollywood Reporter revealed that sources had told them a sequel was in development, with Gerwig and her partner and co-screenwriter Noah Baumbach hammering out an idea for a possible follow up. However, both filmmakers and Warner Bros. denied the claims at the time.

Margot Robbie in ‘Barbie’. CREDIT: YouTube

In a four-star review of Barbie, NME‘s Alex Flood wrote: “The script contains unexpected subtlety, particularly during the tender moments which pack an emotional punch. Presumably, part of Mattel’s motive for bringing Barbie to the big screen was changing her outdated image of rigid beauty ideals and unrealistic body conformism.

“Gerwig is clever enough to deliver these with self-awareness and some sarcastic jokes (Mirren thanking Barbie for ending misogyny is a highlight), meaning the balance between reality and commercial is never lost.”

Barbie was also named NME‘s seventh best movie of the year in 2023. Paul Bradshaw wrote: “A quick vault over the billion-dollar box-office mark saw Gerwig break records for a female director. Nobody could stop singing ‘I’m Just Ken’… Wherever you were in 2023, and whatever you were doing, we were all just living in a Barbie world.”

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