Barbie burst through the billion-dollar mark at the box office over the weekend.
The movie, starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and directed by Greta Gerwig, holds the record for the best opening weekend in terms of box office for a female director, surpassing Captain Marvel.
Now, more history has been made, as Gerwig is the first solo female director ever to helm a movie that has grossed over $1bn. At the moment, Barbie is the second highest-grossing movie of the year behind Super Marios Bros., which grossed an astonishing $1.4bn.
As well as being a box office hit, Barbie has received acclaim from critics, with particular praise for Gerwig's writing and directing and the performances of Robbie and Gosling.
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The enormous success of the movie so far has, naturally, led to speculation as to what could come next. And, for the makers of the Barbie doll, Mattel, they want more sequels and spin-offs.
“Barbie, as a brand, has many different iterations," Mattel CEO Ynon Kreiz told Variety.
"The product lines of Barbie is a very broad brand. In addition to the main Barbie figure, she has family, she has a lot of elements around in her universe. It’s a very rich universe… It’s a very broad and very elastic brand, in terms of opportunities.
“At the outset, we’re not saying, ‘Okay, let’s think already about movie two and three.’ Let’s get the first one right and make that a success. And if you do that, opportunities open up very quickly, once you establish the first movie as a successful representation of a franchise on the big screen.”
“Successful movies lend themselves to more movies. Our ambition is to create film franchises.”
Would Gerwig do a Barbie sequel?
As for writer/director Gerwig, she is simply enjoying the success of the first Barbie movie before thinking about a potential sequel.
"At this moment, it's all I've got," she replied to the New York Times when asked about a Barbie franchise.
"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."
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