Margot Robbie Says She ‘Can’t Imagine’ a Barbie Sequel

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Margot Robbie has cast doubt over a potential Barbie sequel, saying she “can’t imagine” what another movie would be about because they never made plans for a follow-up feature.

Barbie’s astounding box office success may not be Kenough to spawn a film franchise – especially if Robbie’s recent comments are anything to go by. The actress told the Associated Press that sequels were never part of the conversation when creating the first movie, so she’s unsure whether they will return to Barbie Land.

“I think we put everything into this one. We didn’t build it to be a trilogy or something,” Robbie explained. “Greta [Gerwig] put everything into this movie, so I can’t imagine what would be next.”

Barbie earned over $1 billion worldwide, and Robbie says the “biggest takeaway” from its success should be that “original films can still hit huge at the box office.” She stressed that a project shouldn’t have to be “a sequel, or a prequel, or a remake” because Barbie has proven that standalone ideas can pull in big audiences.

“It’s really important that Barbie did well,” she added. “As much as it is nice, it’s also really important that it does well so people can also in future have big original ideas and be given the budget to execute them properly.”

In the movie, Robbie portrays the main Barbie and Ryan Gosling stars as the lead Ken doll, with several other notable actors also stepping outside the toybox to ultimately discover that life is not all about blowout parties, beach hangouts, and rollerblading dates. There are actually a lot of mundane tasks and appointments.

Cinemagoers clearly enjoyed escaping those responsibilities, as Barbie not only landed the best domestic box office opening day of 2023, it also earned heaps of praise from fans and critics, with IGN’s own review calling it a “hyper-femme roller-coaster ride” that masterfully explores “femininity and the pressures of perfection.”

Adele Ankers-Range is a freelance entertainment writer for IGN. You can follow her on X @AdeleAnkers.