by Jonas Reichel on July 26, 2023

"Barbie" has just hit theaters, and there's already talk of "Barbie 2": Director Greta Gerwig and leading actress Margot Robbie have now commented on a possible sequel to the summer hit.

The film about the iconic plastic doll already managed to bring in over 155 million dollars on its opening weekend in the United States - a resounding success. Never before in the history of Hollywood has a female-directed movie been able to bring in so much money in the first few days. "Barbie" thus beats the former record holder "Wonder Woman" by Patty Jenkins, which brought in 105 million dollars.

Accordingly, it's not surprising that people are already calling for a sequel. Lead actress Margot Robbie expressed herself rather reserved in an interview with Time about a potential Barbie follow-up: It could go in a million different directions, but you'd be falling into a trap if you tried to set up a first movie while also planning for sequels.

Director Greta Gerwig, on the other hand, is not entirely averse to the idea, as she revealed in an interview on the Total Film podcast: She is currently focusing on the next few days for now, but says anything is possible. The first part was a wonderful experience in which she was able to fully live up to her dreams. She has already spoken positively in the past about the thought that the movie could become a franchise.

There seems to be no lack of general interest and creative ideas - and distributor Warner Bros. would certainly not object to following up the box-office success of "Barbie". However, Greta Gerwig is expected to be busy with her next job for the time being: a reinterpretation of "The Chronicles of Narnia" for Netflix.

Meanwhile, "Barbie" is probably just the beginning of a cinema initiative by rights holder Mattel. As Variety reports, a true Mattel Cinematic Universe is planned: Currently, a total of 14 of the company's brands are being brought in for this, including adaptations of the purple dinosaur "Barney", the classic "Polly Pocket", the racing toys "Hot Wheels" and "Thomas and Friends". Mattel's "He-Man" movie was only recently cancelled by Netflix in the midst of production due to excessive costs, and is now looking for new backers. The success of "Barbie" is now surely opening up some new opportunities for the toy manufacturer. It remains to be seen whether the next movies will be able to build on this.