Greta Gerwig has brushed off speculation she may already be in line to direct a ‘Barbie’ sequel.
Greta Gerwig has brushed off speculation she may already be in line to direct a ‘Barbie’ sequel
The filmmaker, 39, who directed the hit film starring Margot Robbie as the eponymous doll as Ryan Gosling as her sexless boyfriend Ken, has seen the flick gross a massive $162 million during its opening weekend, giving her the record for the biggest opening ever for a film directed by a woman.
But she told Variety about the possibility of getting on board for a follow-up understood to be wanted by Barbie makers Mattel and studio bosses: “At this moment, it’s all I’ve got.”
Mattel executives have been open about how they want a series of ‘Barbie spin-offs.
Its CEO Ynon Kreiz told Variety: “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.
“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.
“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.
“Successful movies lend themselves to more movies. Our ambition is to create film franchises.”
Robbie Brenner, the Oscar-nominated producer who runs Mattel Films and produced ‘Barbie’ and a series of other Mattel toy-based films said to already be in the works on the back of the success of ‘Barbie’ added: “Everybody hopes that when you create a movie that there is going to be a franchise.
“That’s the hope – that it goes on and on and it’s a gift that keeps giving. But, in this day and age, you just want to get the first one right.”
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