Talk about living in a Barbie World. As Greta Gerwig’s smash hit dominates the box office in just its second week of release, giddily plowing its way toward an expected billion (with a b) box office take, we must face the inevitable: this thing’s gonna get a sequel, right? While Gerwig’s film (co-written with her partner Noah Baumbach) is a major crowdpleaser, it still feels subversive in the way it takes on everything from toxic patriarchy to the very toy conglomerate that owns the iconic doll. But any smarting Mattel and Warner Bros. Discovery might have felt during the creation of the film has surely been eased by its massive success at the box office. Money talks, and we’re betting that WBD has already pulled up the dump truck outside Gerwig and Baumbach’s house.
IndieWire’s Kate Erbland, Erin Strecker, and Proma Khosla have all seen (and enjoyed!) Gerwig’s hit, and they’ve also got some distinct ideas for how a sequel might take shape.
And, yes, spoilers for “Barbie” abound.
KATE ERBLAND: In my own Kate Land Dream World Mojo Dojo Casa House fantasies, there is no sequel to “Barbie,” a film that in ends with the perfect twist, in the perfect place, and on the perfect line (Gerwig told me it “came to her in a dream,” and I don’t doubt it). Alas, I also realize that any time studio executives see enough zeroes at the end of a box office report, a tiny alarm goes off in their brains that just wails “SEQUEL! SEQUEL! SEQUEL!” until they green light the damn thing. Thus: sequel.
My demands for this inevitable project are simple enough: Gerwig has to come back, Baumbach has to come back, and stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling have to come back. And they have to go back to Barbie Land. While I loved Gerwig’s film, I did balk at the time spent in the “Real World,” which completely made sense in terms of setting up the film’s themes, tones, and story beats, but which was simply not as much fun as the time spent in Barbie Land (or even the time spent in, shudder, the Kendom). I live in the Real World! Take me away from it!
Barbie Land isn’t just more fun, it’s also just more interesting. It’s wacky, weird, with its own rules and ways, the kind of place where absolutely anything can happen (and often does), where the laws of the Real World do not apply, and where the concept of elasticity is often stretched to the wildest of ends. In just one film, we’ve already gotten a look at the various ways that Barbie Land can bend (and snap?) in real-time reactivity to the pressures of the Real World. Also: pink stuff.
Perhaps a “Barbie” sequel can dive more deeply into the inner workings of Gosling’s Ken, who zings between cuck and red-pilled toxic male in Gerwig’s film, before landing in a place of, if not outright self-acceptance, a real desire to get there. Maybe he can even continue that journey with Michael Cera’s Allan, with a surprise pop-in from Barbie. The world of Barbie is wide, and “Barbie” has only given us a taste of the wacky wonders it contains. Take me back with the whole original crew, and yes, I’ll be first in line, again.
Erin and Proma, tell me of your own dreams (only as they apply to film sequels, of course).
ERIN STRECKER: I’m a simple Barbie girl, desperately wanting more from Barbie’s dream world.
Kate, I completely agree that everyone has to come back; I’m simply not interested in more tales from this universe if Greta Gerwig and Co. aren’t involved. And while I must state for the record that I personally would love it if Gerwig and Robbie went the Kristen Wiig route and just….refused to make a sequel a la “Bridesmaids” despite studio pleas, I’ll assume that the $$$ involved for all mean we are getting in that pink convertible for a return trip to Barbie Land.
So! I agree with you about not having any real desire to spend more time in the Real World, and if I never seen Will Ferrell’s Mattel exec again, it’ll be too soon. What if Barbie is happily living and loving her way through Los Angeles (duh), with a booming career and a hunky boyfriend (Paul Mescal, post-“Gladiators”)? But oh no! Something terrible has happened in Barbie Land and Barbie — despite being really happy in the real world — know her friends need her, and Barbie never lets down her friends.
One of my favorite non-Allan supporting characters was Emerald Fennell as sad Midge, and I would love to see more of her in the sequel. Real ones know that in the doll lore, Allan (Alan?) and Midge wind up married. While I have no interest in a traditional happily-ever-after wedding story, I feel we could milk some hijinks from Fennell and Michael Cera’s respective talents. First Barbie took on the patriarchy now she’ll take on…middle-aged ennui?
Conversely, I would absolutely watch two hours of Ken just trying to figure out what his own deal is, with help from a bemused Allan. Buddy comedy!?
PROMA KHOSLA: You had me at Midge-and-Allan rom-com. What if all the Barbies and Kens go full musical to get their friends together — on the beach? That’s right; it’s “Barbie” meets “Mamma Mia” (my coffee still hasn’t hit).
But to pull at the Allan and Midge thread, one thing that “Barbie” left me wanting was more time with the other residents of Barbie Land, as fantastic as Robbie and Gosling were. Ritu Arya was in this movie for 10 seconds! Nicola Coughlan even less! Shifting focus to the secondary and tertiary Barbies is a perfect way to explore Barbie Land and Barbie lore further, and to bring in new actors (the Manny Jacinto and Skyler Gisondo tweets will haunt me until I die).
Not to point to another successful toy-movie franchise — particularly one by men — but this is exactly what worked for “The LEGO Batman Movie,” which focused on the original’s breakout star. We all love Allan, but might I suggest…Weird Barbie (Kate McKinnon)? She’s been living up in her fortress, studying the interplay of Barbieland and the real world, doing her splits — she’s seen some shit. If we’re going to widen the scope of Barbie Land, I can’t think of a better explorer to lead that journey.
A Warner Bros. release, “Barbie” is now in theaters.
