Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach found themselves in the strange position of having to aggressively deny their own creativity tonight: the married couple (who co-wrote the screenplay for Gerwig’s massive 2023 blockbuster). Barbie) deny that they’ve come up with an idea for a sequel to the hot pink pop satire that they’re happy with and pitched it to Warner Bros. Warner Bros. also denies the bizarre allegations published in The Hollywood Reporterthat they would very much like to make a sequel to a film that grossed $1.4 billion with an IP that had previously been almost exclusively limited to direct-to-DVD shovelware. “There is no legitimacy to this reporting,” Gerwig and Baumbach’s representative said in response to the unfounded accusations that it was a good idea and early discussions about the film adaptation. Warner Bros. seemed outraged by the very idea.

This all sounds a lot like the kind of language people use when there’s no deal stillbut perhaps that is precisely the money we are talking about: after all, it is difficult to imagine that there will be none Barbie 2 sometime. It’s just the nature of modern Hollywood that you can’t make that much money from a movie without putting a lot of pressure on it to produce a sequel. And although you can defend yourself against the process – you can also defend yourself against what Todd Phillips did in making one joker Sequel specifically designed to upset everyone who liked his first film – you don’t get the feeling that Gerwig is necessarily that guy. (Despite being an obvious indie darling, Gerwig has never been afraid of studio fare; she has spoken in interviews about her interest in working with the studio machine to tell stories rather than railing against it, and is currently in pre-production on your Netflix Narnia Film.)

If Gerwig and Baumbach did I have an idea for one Barbie 2we’d normally greet it with at least a little of the skepticism traditionally reserved for knee-jerk sequels. But Gerwig has earned some serious credit in recent years; The films that led to the billion-dollar explosion were consistently great, and Barbie herself has managed the balancing act between goofball comedy and social satire so well that we’re convinced she and Baumbach will probably find something to say with a sequel that’s a little deeper than “We’d like a billion more dollars, please.” If They had an idea that they were happy with, but they want you to know that they aren’t doing it.