Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling ‘Hold All the Cards’ Amid ‘Barbie 2’ Talks: They Want ‘Gigantic Raises’

Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling have yet to reach a deal to return for a Barbie sequel, but a source insists the movie will happen eventually, even if Warner Bros. have to pay through the nose to get their lead stars on board.

According to Star‘s source, Robbie, 36, and Gosling, 45, are asking for “gigantic raises” to reprise their roles as Barbie and Ken, “about 80% more than what they made” for the first film.

“Plain and simple, this is a money issue,” the source explains. “The studio has a right and a mandate to not just bow to whatever Margot and Ryan’s teams ask for without a healthy back-and-forth negotiation, and that’s the case with every big sequel they make.”

Time is of the essence, though. If Warner Bros. doesn’t reach a deal with Robbie and Gosling by the end of the year, notes the source, the IP rights to Barbie will revert back to Mattell.

“Everybody on both sides of the table is freaked out by the ticking clock around getting a sequel made,” spills the source. “The prospect of losing this property, and Ryan and Margot with it, to another studio is hanging over everybody’s head.”

Barbie took the box office by storm in 2023, generating more than $1 billion worldwide, per Variety, and making it Warner Bro.’s biggest hit to date.

“The executives in charge of this project know they will look like fools if they let it slip through their fingers,” adds the source. “It’s going to come down to the wire, but Ryan and Margot hold all the cards here and they are very aware of how badly their fans want to see them return.”