Highlights
- Barbie's massive commercial success makes a sequel seem like a no-brainer, but it might not be the best artistic decision.
- While there are plenty of business reasons for a sequel, creatively, Barbie works beautifully as a standalone movie.
- A sequel could explore Barbie's adjustment to human life, but it wouldn't add substantial depth or contribute anything new to the story.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Barbie.
The unprecedented blockbuster success of Barbie makes a sequel seem like a no-brainer from a commercial point-of-view, but it might not be the best artistic decision, and star Margot Robbie and writer-director Greta Gerwig might not even return for a potential Barbie 2. Barbie’s whopping $337 million haul on its opening weekend was the biggest opening for a non-sequel, remake, or superhero property, and beat out The Super Mario Bros. Movie for the biggest opening of 2023 (via Screen Rant). At a time when studios are struggling to get audiences out to theaters, Barbie is attracting the kind of crowds that haven’t come out to a comedy movie in over a decade. Movies with much less success than Barbie have been given a sequel in a heartbeat.
Warner Bros. executives must be foaming at the mouth as they watch Barbierace to the billion-dollar mark. But while there are plenty of business reasons to make a sequel to Barbie, the creative reasons for a sequel are much more scarce. Barbie works beautifully as a standalone movie. It says everything it has to say within its own 114-minute runtime. The final scene leaves Barbie in a good place with the perfect ending to her journey of self-actualization. Barbie 2 couldn’t say anything about identity or gender inequality that wasn’t already covered in the first film. A Barbie sequel is all but guaranteed to get made, but it’ll inevitably fall into all the comedy sequel pitfalls and land with a thud next to Zoolander 2, Anchorman 2, and The Hangover Part II.
Does Barbie Leave Room For A Sequel?
The final scene of Barbie isn’t so conclusive that a sequel can never, ever happen, but it doesn’t leave much room for Barbie 2, either. At the end of Barbie, the title character decides to permanently relocate to the real world to become a human being. This transformation is summed up in the movie’s perfect punchline as Barbie excitedly visits a gynecologist’s office for the first time. This is the definitive conclusion of Barbie’s story. A sequel could explore Barbie’s adjustment to human life, which could lead to some great gags, but she already had her happy ending, so there would be nowhere for Barbie 2 to take her character development. She already grew from an anxious, cellulite-plagued Barbie into a happy, self-confident human being. There’s no real reason to continue that story (other than the billion dollars it would make for Warner Bros., that is).
Usually, a movie about a character who leaves behind a fantasy world for the real world can flip the script in its sequel. But Barbie explored both premises in the same movie. After Barbie first goes to the real world, she brings back America Ferrera’s Gloria and her daughter, Sasha, so Barbie 2 can’t use that concept. It would certainly be possible to crank out a story idea for Barbie 2, whether the other Barbies follow Stereotypical Barbie to the real world or the Kens once again try to consolidate power, but it wouldn’t add anything substantial to the story.
The first movie already said everything it needed to say. It covers everything from feminism to existentialism with plenty to say about womanhood, body image, the patriarchy, mothers and daughters, self-identity, and even the lofty philosophical subject of the human condition. Barbie 2 would inevitably be a hollow re-tread of the first movie, tackling the same themes and peddling the same messages, existing only to cash in on its predecessor’s runaway box office success.
What Would Barbie 2 Without Gerwig Or Robbie Look Like?
Gerwig has said that it would “certainly be exciting” to explore Barbie Land further in a sequel, while Robbie has said that planning for sequels can be “a trap” (via the Economic Times). Neither of the two major talents involved in Barbie has made a solid commitment to return for a potential sequel. Whether or not Gerwig is interested in working on a Barbie sequel, she’s signed on to direct at least two movies based on The Chronicles of Narnia books for Netflix, and Warners likely won’t want to wait until she’s done to make Barbie 2 – they’ll want to strike while the iron is hot (i.e. right now). As for Robbie, following her rocky experiences with the DC Extended Universe, she might not be eager to get locked into another long-running franchise.
Based on the numbers, Barbie will probably be getting a sequel whether Gerwig and Robbie are involved or not. But making Barbie 2 without Gerwig or Robbie would be a huge mistake. It was Gerwig’s lively, inventive direction and Robbie’s sincerity that made Barbie so great, not the I.P. itself. A Barbie sequel with more involvement from Mattel and less involvement from Gerwig and Robbie could end up being the soulless corporate product that many viewers feared the first film would be.