Is Ryan Gosling asking for too much? The Barbie sequel threatened by the actors' demands

Eight Oscar nominations (no less!), nearly $1.5 billion at the box office, and $50 million in the pocket of star and producer Margot Robbie: despite phenomenal success, the future of “Barbie” at Warner Bros. remains uncertain.

According to reports in The New York Times, the studio is currently at odds with the financial demands of the team behind the first film. David Zaslav, CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, reportedly turned down Ryan Gosling’s request for $20 million to reprise his role as the famous Ken.

And as is often the case with this type of blockbuster, no clause providing for a sequel had been included in the original cast’s contracts. Furthermore, director Greta Gerwig and co-screenwriter Noah Baumbach do not intend to submit the script for the second installment until they have signed a new agreement.

For Warner Bros., time is running out: the studio’s rights to the franchise will expire in December 2026. After that, Mattel will regain its license and will be free to entrust a second project to another studio and a new team.