LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Actress Margot Robbie, who is also the producer of the upcoming 'Barbie' movie, enthusiastically pitched the film to studio executives, believing it had the potential to be a 'billion-dollar' success. During the green-light meeting, Robbie who leads the cast of the film as the eponymous Barbie doll alongside her boyfriend Ken, played by Ryan Gosling, 42, emphasized the importance of having director Greta Gerwig on board for the project.
As the film's release approaches, the anticipation is building, and projections indicate it has the potential to surpass $100 million at the weekend box office. Critics have already showered the film with praise, describing it as "dazzling," "funny," and "insightful."
How much did Margot Robbie expect 'Barbie' to make?
"I think my pitch in the green-light meeting was the studios have prospered so much when they’re brave enough to pair a big idea with a visionary director," she said in an interview with Collider. "I think I told them that it'd make a billion dollars, which maybe I was overselling, but we had a movie to make, okay? And then I gave a series of examples like, 'dinosaurs and [Steven] Spielberg' – pretty much naming anything that's been incredible and made a ton of money for the studios over the years. And I was like, 'And now you’ve got Barbie and Greta Gerwig."'
In the same interview, Robbie's co-star Gosling also applauded director Greta Gerwig, lauding her for being "brilliant." "Greta, she’s just such a brilliant person and such an inclusive person. She's brilliant but incapable of being pretentious. I think what I admire so much about her work is that she doesn’t allow herself to create a divide between drama and comedy, and she encourages everyone around her to do the same. So you end up mining places that are in the in-between and it feels very specific to her, but also something that you can relate to because it’s more like life," added Gosling.
'A doll living in Barbieland!'
Barbie, a live-action feature based on the popular line of Barbie toys, is set to hit theaters on July 21. The film's storyline follows "a doll living in 'Barbieland' is expelled for not being perfect enough and sets off on an adventure in the real world. A Live-action feature film based on the popular line of Barbie toys," as per IMDB synopsis. However, 'Barbie' faces tough competition at the box office, with Christopher Nolan's 'Oppenheimer' set to be released on the same day. Critics have already praised 'Oppenheimer' as a "total knockout" and a "spectacular achievement."
