The film is co-produced by LuckyChap Entertainment, Margot Robbie's production company
Lots of pink and a shower of greenbacks accompanies the release of Barbie< /strong>, directed by Greta Gerwig and produced by Mattel Films, LuckyChap Entertainment and Warner Bros.
Not only Australian actress Margot Robbieslipped into the skin of the most famous doll in the world, but it is also thanks to her hard work that Greta Gerwig's crazy film was able to see the light of day. She is also the producer, through her company, LuckyChap Entertainment, founded in 2014. It was she who approached Mattel, then Warner Bros, and it was together that they chose Greta Gerwig to make the movie.
As the producer of Barbie, Margot Robbie had to convince the studio that her vision for the film would lead to financial success. She thus sold the project, during presentation meetings, assuring that a “Barbie” film could bring in a billion dollars at the global box office. According to her, this success depended on the commitment of screenwriter and director Greta Gerwig.
Barbie: Greta Gerwig's Movie Isn't Plastic [Review]
“I think my speech at the validation meeting was that the studios had managed to thrive in the past when they had had the courage to pair a great idea with a visionary director,” Robbie said in an interview with Collider, before continuing: “I then gave a series of examples like dinosaurs and Steven Spielberg, naming just about everything that has made big bucks for the studios over the years. And I said: And now you have Barbie and Greta Gerwig. And I think I told them the movie would make a billion dollars, which I may have overstated, but we had a movie to make“.
Whether “Barbie” will make a billion dollars remains to be seen, but the film is already shaping up to be a blockbuster for the studio. According to the latest predictions from Boxoffice Pro, Barbie could rake in between $140 million and $175 million over the opening weekend. On Twitter, Matthew Belloni of Puck News is betting on $93 million. At Warner bros we play it safe by aiming for 75 million dollars. Greta Gerwig's film has also posted the best pre-sales since Avatar: The Way of the Water, according to data from “The Boxoffice Company' (as a reminder, James Cameron's blockbuster had generated $134 million on its opening weekend).
Gerwig has directed Barbie and co-wrote the screenplay with life partner Noah Baumbach. This choice paid off for the actors in the film, especially Ryan Gosling who loved the script.
“Greta is such a brilliant and inclusive person“, Gosling told Collider. “She's brilliant but incapable of being pretentious. What I admire most about her work is that she doesn't allow herself to drive a wedge between drama and comedy, and that she encourages everyone around her to do the same, so you end up exploiting places that are in between, and it feels like it's very specific to her, but also something to which you can relate because it's closer to life“.
Greta Gerwig: "Ken is nothing without Barbie, he's a hilarious and tragic figure"
