Billion-dollar Barbie movie sequel stalled over big paydays for Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie

Three years after ‘Barbie’ took the box office by storm in the summer of 2023, fans are still nowhere closer to a sequel happening, and new details have emerged about the hold-up.Margot Robbie starred as the title character with Ryan Gosling portraying Ken in the blockbuster, which took in $636.2 million domestic and $810.9 million from foreign markets for a combined $1.447 billion worldwide.While that is certainly a big enough haul to have most studios quickly giving a green light for a sequel, Warner Bros.has been stalling, with a report from The New York Times revealing why.Embattled Warner Bros.

Discovery CEO David Zaslav — who is set to earn a whopping $886 million “golden parachute” when (or if) the Paramount/Warner Bros.merger is approved — is balking at Robbie and Gosling’s hefty salary demands.Gosling is reportedly asking $20 million to return as Ken, though Zaslav thought it was too much and refused to sign off on the deal, which also included language about profit participation.The studio also needs to come to agreements with Robbie, director Greta Gerwig and her writing partner (and real-life husband) Noah Baumbach.

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By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Never miss a story The report adds that negotiations have been ongoing for months, though studio reps have said that the principal talent declined the studio’s last offer in May and have yet to counter.Warner Bros.

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.”The negotiations not only come as Paramount agreed to pause their merger with Warner Bros.

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