Barbie Executive Discusses Sequel Plans After Box Office Success

One of the executive's behind Barbie has disucssed Mattel's plans for a sequel. CEO Ynon Kreiz spoke to Variety about the route forward after Greta Gerwig's movie absolutely crushed the box office this weekend. Yes, Barbie is still climbing the box office ladder. But, it's also assuredly going to be one of the biggest hits at the theater this year. When asked about Barbie's absolute dominance, Kreiz said, "Successful movies lend themselves to more movies. Our ambition is to create film franchises." Mattel has made no secret of its intention to cash in on profitable IP in recent years. Barbie basically functions as a massive proof of concept in that regard. 

"Barbie, as a brand, has many different iterations. The product lines of Barbie is a very broad brand. In addition to the main Barbie figure, she has family, she has a lot of elements around in her universe," Kreiz also told the outlet. "It's a very rich universe… It's a very broad and very elastic brand, in terms of opportunities."

"At the outset, we're not saying, 'Okay, let's think already about movie two and three.' Let's get the first one right and make that a success," the conversation continued. "And if you do that, opportunities open up very quickly, once you establish the first movie as a successful representation of a franchise on the big screen."

Box Office Mania For Barbie

It's been one long party at the theater for Barbie since it released last week. The movie has already climbed past 200 million domestically and doesn't show signs of stopping anytime soon. Gerwig has a lot to be proud of as she might have helped save the summer at the box office in a big way. Sure, a lot of big tent poles did well. However, there just isn't anything that hit like Barbie since it got warm. Of course, this is what Margot Robbie told Collider she lured studios with.

"I think my pitch in the green-light meeting was the studios have prospered so much when they're brave enough to pair a big idea with a visionary director," Robbie began. "And then I gave a series of examples like, "dinosaurs and [Steven] Spielberg," that and that, that and that – pretty much naming anything that's been incredible and made a ton of money for the studios over the years. And I was like, 'And now you've got Barbie and Greta Gerwig.' And I think I told them that it'd make a billion dollars, which maybe I was overselling, but we had a movie to make, okay?!"

Barbie Wasn't Afraid To Take Some Chances

Gerwig knew she was taking some risks when it came to Barbie. In fact, she told the New York Times that there was always going to be some pushback to everything she put into that script. The key was meeting the outside commentary head on and explaining their position effectively.

"I will say, that's always sounded so dramatic: They were coming anyway, so it wasn't like, "Stop everything, we all have to go to London!"" Gerwig revealed. "But with that scene in particular, my awareness of Barbie as a thing in the world completely corresponded with me knowing the arguments against Barbie. I didn't think there was any way to do this without giving that real estate and having well-articulated, correct arguments from a really smart character given to Barbie against Barbie. Also, I grew up with a mom who was kind of against Barbie, so that's how I knew all that. If you don't give voice to that, then you're nowheresville."

What's All The Fuss About Barbie?

In Barbie, to live in Barbie Land is to be a perfect being in a perfect place. Unless you have a full-on existential crisis. Or you're a Ken. From Oscar-nominated writer/director Greta Gerwig comes Barbie, which hit theaters on July 21st. Barbie stars Oscar-nominees Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling as Barbie and Ken, alongside America Ferrera , Kate McKinnon , Michael Cera , Ariana Greenblatt , Issa Rae , Rhea Perlman , and Will Ferrell. The film also stars Ana Cruz Kayne, Emma Mackey , Hari Nef , Alexandra Shipp , Kingsley Ben-Adir , Simu Liu , Ncuti Gatwa , Scott Evans , Jamie Demetriou , Connor Swindells, Sharon Rooney, Nicola Coughlan, Ritu Arya , Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Dua Lipa and Oscar-winner Helen Mirren . Gerwig directed Barbie from a screenplay by Gerwig & Oscar nominee Noah Baumbach , based on Barbie by Mattel.

Would you like to see Barbie 2? Let us know in the comments!