Well, that went well didn’t it? We’ve seen the impact that Barbie has had; both in the numbers (£293 million at the box office worldwide in the opening weekend!) and culturally, as groups of friends bonding over intersectional feminism pink outfits, trot around the city streets yelling out “Hi Barbie!” to strangers. It’s been a really heartwarming and silly; a much-needed escape at a time when the world literally burns around us.
So, when’s the next one coming out?
It’s not that simple, says the co-writer and director, Greta Gerwig. In an interview with the New York Times she said she’s shelved plans for a sequel…for now: “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.”
Right, so maybe a new writer or director then? Gerwig has suggested that Ken’s idol in the film, Sly Stallone, might be the man for the job. “I mean, he’s welcome to it,” she told UpRoxx. “It would be an honour. It would be such an honour.”
With Sly on directing duties, that naturally means the focus might be even more on Ken in Barbie 2. After all, Barbie’s now found her spiritual enlightenment and her identity as a person in the real world (with real genitalia too!), while arguably Ken needs to go a bit more on a journey; one that preferably doesn’t involve the brohood, horses or clothing that looks like it’s been pilfered from Guns N’ Roses 1990 world tour.
Can we sign Ryan Gosling up? “I would work with Greta and Margot [Robbie] on anything,” Gosling told Entertainment Tonight. Meanwhile, Robbie told Time: “I think you fall into a bit of a trap if you try and set up a first movie whilst also planning for sequels,” however she added: “It could go a million different directions from this point.”
Oppen-arbie?
Maybe we shake it all up; clear the decks with the huge ensemble cast and replace it with another huge cast-list: everyone from Oppenheimer. Remarkably, Cillian Murphy is game to step into Ken’s loafers, telling Cinéfilos: “Would I play a Ken in Barbie 2? You know, sure. Let’s read the script, let’s have a conversation.”
However, while Emily Blunt and Matt Damon love the idea of working with Gerwig, Blunt asked Damon in the same Cinéfilos interview: “Do you really think you could out-Ken Ryan Gosling?” to which Damon replied: “I don’t know if anyone’s out-Kenning that guy. I don’t have enough Kenergy.” Murphy it is then!
There’s also one marginalised outsider that the Barbie sequel could focus on: Allan. Michael Cera gave one of the saddest/funniest performances in the film, and there’s definitely (sturdy, unbendable) legs for a spin-off. How did he end up married to Midge, the pregnant Barbie? How did they break up? What new worlds would open up to him once leaving the hetero-normative Barbie Land for a summer adventure in, say, Fire Island, Sitges or Berlin? Come on, give the poor lad a mind-bending trip to call his own: discontinued doesn’t have to mean discounted.
Ultimately, the success of Barbie has shown how much we all needed some escapism in our lives, so Greta, or Sly, or whoever, with a developing Barbie-verse appearing; please don’t throw these toys out of the pram so soon.
