Ryan Gosling is reportedly being lined up to begin filling out the Barbie Cinematic Universe.
Park this one in unconfirmed, but industry insider Daniel Richtman is claiming that Warner Bros is already exploring the possibility of a Ken doll solo film to spin-off from Greta Gerwig’s upcoming
Barbie film. If you happened to read
our story on toymaker Mattel and its quest for Hollywood supremacy, this will come as no surprise as the toy firm’s production company claims to have a whopping 45 projects in some form of development. Why shouldn’t one of them be a
Ken movie?
Of course, there are lots of different answers to that question and with the recent news that
Barbie director, Greta Gerwig is next
headed to Netflix to make two Narnia films, there’s one point of view that some of our most talented creatives (be they Greta Gerwig, Ryan Gosling or whoever) are being sucked into a system where the pursuit of individual films with distinct voices are discouraged, much to the the detriment of cinema. Or perhaps this writer has just covered three stories about sequels this morning and is actually the one feeling discouraged.
Richtman has a pretty good track record with this kind of stuff but Warner Bros is savvy enough to keep this under the hat until after
Barbie releases. Predicting blockbuster performance seems to be a tricky gambit at the moment, at least for the studios who commission them. After all, no studio goes into a tentpole production planning on losing hundreds of millions of dollars but that’s what we’re seeing happen lately in enough cases to characterise it as a trend. As such, Warners will likely reserve the announcement of a
Ken film until
Barbie proves to be a financial success. We’ll keep you posted as we hear more.
World of Reel
—
Thank you for visiting! If you’d like to support our attempts to make a non-clickbaity movie website:
Follow Film Stories on Twitter here, and on Facebook here.
Buy our Film Stories and Film Junior print magazines here.
Become a Patron here.
Related Stories
- Netflix reportedly ‘shocked’ at missing out on Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights
Executives at Netflix are reportedly stunned that they couldn't acquire Saltburn director Emerald Fennell's Wuthering Heights adaptation.
Given that Warner Bros hasn't exactly covered itself in glory over the past few years, we can't quite call this a 'feel good' story, but we feel comfortable dubbing it a 'victory for cinema'.
In case you haven't been [...]
- Narnia | Netflix’s IMAX plans struggling, Greta Gerwig’s status as director in doubt
With Netflix's cinema release deal with IMAX reportedly dead, director Greta Gerwig could be about to depart the streaming firm's upcoming Narnia movies.
In October, director Greta Gerwig was reportedly using her post-Barbie clout to try to persuade Netflix to give her planned Narnia films a cinema release. Gerwig wouldn't be the first filmmaker to try [...]
- Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights arriving late 2025
Emerald Fennell's new take on Wuthering Heights is being fast-tracked, to ready it for 2025 awards season. More here.
Things seem to be moving pretty quickly with Emerald Fennell's take on Wuthering Heights, the filmmaker's follow-up to Saltburn, her fizzy dramatic thriller that released late last year. Cameras haven't yet rolled on Wuthering Heights and already [...]
- While Netflix numbers go up, Disney+ numbers are going down
Price rises keep the profits coming in, but Disney+ was losing subscribers at the end of 2024 - and the outlook is tricky.
The story’s been told many times over about the seismic gamble Disney took in launching its own streaming service. From pretty much shuttering its home entertainment division as it stood to spending over [...]
- When James Gunn denies The Batman II has been cancelled…
James Gunn has denied The Batman Part II has been cancelled, leading some to inevitably think The Batman Part II has been cancelled.
There’s an obvious problem here. A report popped up overnight that Warner Bros had cancelled Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman Part II. It’s been cemented for some time, even as the DC universe [...]
