Mattel Studios Boss Says “We All Want To See The ‘Barbie’ Sequel” But Timing Remains Unclear

Barbie producer and Mattel Studios boss Robbie Brenner talked about a follow-up to the hit live-action movie in a session at the Toronto Film Festival. “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.”

Timing, however, remains an open question, with other Barbie projects also in the works. “Right now, we’re focused on, and we’re making, an animated Barbie movie with Chris Meledandri. That is super exciting, and yes, we will continue to do other Barbie things as well.”

Brenner, President of Mattel Studios and Chief Content Officer, was speaking at TIFF: The Market, the sales and conference section of the Toronto Film Festival.

She earned an Oscar nom for producing Greta Gerwig’s $1.4BN-grossing live-action Barbie movie, which starred Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling. It was produced in partnership with Robbie and Tom Ackerley of LuckyChap and David Heyman.

Speculation about the sequel reached fever pitch in July when a New York Times article said Warner Bros. has until December to close a deal with Robbie, Gosling and Gerwig, the co-writer and director of the first movie. If a sequel is not put into active development by the end of the year, the rights revert to Mattel. The toymaker then will not be permitted to use any previous iteration of Barbie and will face a full reboot at that point in time.

Brenner did dish some stories about making the first pic. She said she’d heard 40 or 50 pitches before Gerwig raised her hand. “[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.”

She explained: “When Greta said the thing about the high heel and the Birkenstock… that was the aha moment.”

At a corporate level, “Barbie really put Mattel on the map in terms of content and people knowing that we’re making movies” Brenner said. “That legitimized [Mattel] and it was, ‘Okay, they’re really taking swings and they’re making bold choices.’”