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‘We didn’t build it to be a trilogy’: Margot Robbie responds to Barbie sequel hopes

Margot Robbie spoke about what Barbie's success could mean for the future of original films.

Source: Twitter/@APEntertainment

Australian darling Margot Robbie poured cold water on any hopes she might step into Barbie’s heels for a sequel to this year’s smash cinema hit.

At Variety‘s Power of Women event earlier this month, Robbie said she and Barbie director Greta Gerwig had “put everything” into the film.

“We didn’t build it to be a trilogy or something,” she said.

“Greta put everything into this movie, so I can’t imagine what would be next.”

Robbie’s stance echoes Gerwig’s previous comments on the possibility of a sequel, when she told The New York Times, “At this moment, [Barbie is] all I’ve got.”

“I feel like that at the end of every movie, like I’ll never have another idea and everything I’ve ever wanted to do, I did.

“I wouldn’t want to squash anybody else’s dream but for me, at this moment, I’m at totally zero.”

Questions over the possibility of a Barbie continuation are no surprise given its immense success.

The live-action film has raked in more than $1 billion ($1.5 billion), becoming the highest-grossing film in Warner Bros history, and has been credited by Mattel for driving up sales by 9 per cent year-on-year.

Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling play Barbie and Ken in the film. Photo: Warner Bros.

Robbie didn’t just work on screen for the film; her production company LuckyChap Entertainment produced Barbie, alongside Warner Bros, Mattel Films, Heyday Films and NB/GG Pictures.

The film’s success led to Robbie and LuckyChap Entertainment co-founders Tom Ackerley (Robbie’s husband) and Josey McNamara getting the producer of the year award at the Variety event.

Robbie said the biggest takeaway from the success story was that original films could still “hit huge” at the box office amid a flood of sequels, prequels and remakes.

The film’s results could pave the way to help future original features to get the large budgets needed to pull them off; Barbie cost $145 million ($219 million) to make, alongside a marketing campaign estimated at $150 million ($227 million).

“[An original film] can still be big, get given the big budget to do that,” Robbie said.

“Just because there’s a female lead doesn’t mean it’s not gonna hit all four [audience demographic] quadrants, which is … a misconception that a lot of people still have.

“It’s really important that Barbie did well … so people can also, in future, have big, original ideas and be given the budget to execute them properly.”

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