As you all know, Barbie was the *It* movie of the summer, and probably of the year. In addition to becoming the highest domestic grossing Warner Bros film of all time, it made more than $1 billion at the worldwide box office. This propelled director Greta Gerwig to become the highest grossing female director of all time and made star Margot Robbie $50 million on the backend. It also brought people back to the movies who hadn’t gone to a theater in years.

As is the case with the blend of wildly popular movies, capitalism, and the Franchise Era we’re living in, there’s been speculation about whether or not Barbie will get a sequel. When asked about plans for one at Variety’s annual Women of Power event, Robbie spit some truths and reminded everyone that original, standalone movies are awesome too.

Following the box office success of Barbie, there’s been a lot of chatter about a potential sequel that would see Margot Robbie reprise the titular character role. However, in a new interview, Robbie seems to shoot down any possibilities of a follow-up to the Greta Gerwig-directed film.

“I think we put everything into this one. We didn’t build it to be a trilogy or something,” Robbie told the Associated Press in an interview. “Greta put everything into this movie, so I can’t imagine what would be next.”

Barbie made over $1.4 billion at the box office and Robbie also reflected on the success of the film noting that “original films can still hit huge.”

“It doesn’t have to be a sequel or a prequel or a remake,” Robbie continued. “It can be totally original. It can still be big given the big budget to do that. And just because there’s a female lead doesn’t mean it’s not going to hit all four quadrants which is, you know, I think a misconception that a lot of people still have.”

Robbie says that it was important for Barbie to do well so future filmmakers could “have big original ideas and be given the budget to execute them properly.”.

[From Deadline]

This is so refreshing to hear. Back in July, Gerwig also said something similar about giving the movie all she’s got. I totally agree with Margot here. Some films (and books and mini-series *cough cough Big Little Lies cough cough*) are best left as a “one and done.” Don’t get me wrong – I’ve been a sucker for sequels, trilogies, spinoffs, works of theatre “based upon,” and so on, but there’s something really special about artists who create something and stand firm in their convictions that they told the full story that they wanted to tell and there’s nothing more to say. Almost nothing is going to be The Godfather Part II or The Empire Strikes Back. 90% of the time, a sequel – especially one created as a result of a hit movie and not conceived as a multi-part story – is not going to capture the same magic. I’m sure Greta, Margot, and company could do a great job on a second Barbie movie, but I love that they’re confident enough to say, “We know everyone loved our movie, now give other filmmakers with original ideas a chance to shine.”

— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) November 17, 2023

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Photos credit: Cover Images, Xavier Collin / Image Press Agency / Avalon and via Instagram

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