The Barbie sequel has reportedly stalled over salary negotiations for stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling.
Director Greta Gerwig and her partner Noah Baumbach - who received an Oscar nomination for their work on the original script - have reportedly been putting together plans to bring the film back for a sequel but a new report suggests talks with the Warner Bros. have failed to produce an agreement over pay deals for the lead actors.
The New York Times reports: "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."
The publication reports the last offers made to the actors in May was "declined" and they "have not yet countered with a new one".
A deal reportedly must be reached for a second film before the rights revert to the toy manufacturer Mattel in December.
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."
Gerwig is believed to have an idea in place for Barbie 2 but won't share it until a deal is in place for the film, according to the New York Times.
Back in October 2023, during a WGA West Q A moderated by Judd Apatow, Gerwig admitted she doesn't like to share her ideas "too early" as she worries it will "wreck what the movie is".
She explained: "I find whenever I’ve shared ideas too early, they become bad, then the movie’s not going to be any good. I don’t like to talk about things too early or pitch things or show treatments too early because it feels like it’s gonna somehow wreck what the movie is."
