Mattel Studios chief Robbie Brenner is making clear that the appetite for another live-action Barbie movie is very much there — even if the timetable is not.
Speaking during a session at TIFF: The Market, the sales and conference section of the Toronto Film Festival, Brenner addressed the question surrounding a follow-up to the blockbuster live-action film. “We all want to see the Barbie sequel,” she told the TIFF crowd. “I want to see it too. I’m sure at some point, one day, there will be one.”
For now, however, Brenner indicated that Mattel’s immediate Barbie focus is elsewhere. “Right now, we’re focused on, and we’re making, an animated Barbie movie with Chris Meledandri,” she said. “That is super exciting, and yes, we will continue to do other Barbie things as well.”
Brenner, who is President of Mattel Studios and Chief Content Officer, also served as a producer on Greta Gerwig’s live-action Barbie, which grossed $1.4 billion and earned Brenner an Oscar nomination. The film starred Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and was produced in partnership with Robbie and Tom Ackerley of LuckyChap and David Heyman.
Sequel questions remain unresolved
The comments arrive amid heightened attention on what happens next for the property on the big screen. Speculation around a sequel intensified in July after a New York Times article said Warner Bros. has until December to close a deal with Robbie, Gosling and Gerwig, who co-wrote and directed the first movie.
According to that report, if a sequel is not put into active development by the end of the year, the rights revert to Mattel. The same account said Mattel would then not be permitted to use any previous iteration of Barbie and would face a full reboot at that point.
Brenner’s remarks did not provide a date for a live-action sequel, nor did they confirm any deal involving the principal creative team from the first film. Instead, she framed the next chapter as something Mattel wants to see happen while emphasizing that the company is already moving ahead with an animated Barbie movie and additional Barbie projects.
How Greta Gerwig’s take came together
During the TIFF session, Brenner also revisited the road to the first live-action film, saying she had heard “40 or 50 pitches” before Gerwig raised her hand with her approach to the material.
“[Gerwig] had a vision of what she wanted to do and said, ‘I love Barbie. I grew up with Barbie; I don’t know what the story is but I know that it’s gonna live in between a high heel and a Birkenstock’… so we went on the journey with her,” Brenner said.
She described that creative framing as the turning point. “When Greta said the thing about the high heel and the Birkenstock… that was the aha moment,” Brenner said.
Brenner also pointed to the film’s broader impact on Mattel’s content ambitions. “Barbie really put Mattel on the map in terms of content and people knowing that we’re making movies,” she said. “That legitimized [Mattel] and it was, ‘Okay, they’re really taking swings and they’re making bold choices.’”
What happens next?
For now, the confirmed next step is the animated Barbie movie Brenner said Mattel is making with Chris Meledandri. As for another live-action installment, Brenner’s message at TIFF was enthusiastic but open-ended: everyone wants one, she included, but the timing remains unclear.