$1.4 Billion Sequel: 'Barbie 2' Reportedly in the Works, Studio Issues Odd Denial
Politics are downstream of culture, and that grows truer by the day. And it’s become especially true with regard to pop culture.
Entertainment and technology are key parts of pop culture, so we’re taking you to the front lines of the culture war by addressing some of the best — and strangest — stories from that world in this recurring column exclusive to members of The Western Journal.
For moviegoers with actual taste in film, July 2023 was highlighted by the release of “Oppenheimer,” a wildly successful biopic about the forefather of nuclear weaponry from film auteur Christopher Nolan.
For the rest of moviegoers, July 2023 was probably highlighted by “Barbie,” which was effectively “Misandry: The Movie” meets the color pink vomiting all over everything.
Guess which one of these films is probably going to get a sequel from Hollywood soon?
While Nolan has largely resisted Hollywood’s ongoing infatuation with sequels and remakes (save for his stellar and imminently quotable Batman trilogy), the industry as a whole clearly wants big noted franchises that can reliably pump out a blockbuster every so often.
And few media franchises are as widespread as Barbie — the ubiquitous girl doll line that’s been around since 1959.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, writers Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach finally have an outline for “Barbie 2,” though the film is still clearly in its most “early stages.”
But again, that’s not exactly a surprise.
If there’s one thing Hollywood loves more than sequels and remakes, it’s money, … and the $1.4 billion brought in by “Barbie” is a bit hard to ignore, no?
What is a bit of a surprise, however, is the odd denial that any such “Barbie 2” project is alive.
The Reporter noted that “reps for Warner Bros. and the filmmakers deny it is in the works.”
“There is no legitimacy to this reporting,” Gerwig’s and Baumbach’s representative said.
A Warner Bros. representative added, “THR’s reporting is inaccurate.”
Those are some oddly strong denials for a sequel movie that most people have largely assumed is inevitable.
Which begs the question: Why?
Now, obviously, THR’s report could just be outright wrong. It wouldn’t exactly be the first time that the establishment media has been caught in a brazen lie.
But if THR’s reporting is accurate? One can’t help but wonder if the 2024 election had anything to do with these blanket denials.
Many prognosticators and pundits have been performing an autopsy of the 2024 general election, but one of the generally accepted narratives to emerge from President-elect Donald Trump’s resounding victory is that America — as a whole — was repudiating the furthest fringes of the left that have hijacked liberalism.
Yes, people wanted more affordable groceries, but the American electorate also spoke loud and clear that failed presidential candidate Kamala Harris was not the woman to lead America back to anything resembling cultural normalcy.
If anything, Harris represented a future that included far more cultural rot via her leftist screeching and noticeable misandry.
Harris’ struggles with male voters is key, because even the most hardcore fans of the “Barbie” movie would have to admit that the film doesn’t exactly portray men in a particularly favorable light.
Which brings everything back to the this rumored “Barbie 2” film.
It’s impossible to say what will happen to this sequel film, or whether or not those aforementioned reps are actually worried about what happened in the 2024 election.
But you cannot deny that the cultural pendulum is shifting, as it often does throughout history.
“Barbie 2” is almost assured to happen, despite the denials.
But can a sequel with the same messaging and misandrist tones come close to a $1.4 billion box office banger in a post-2024 election world?
Probably not.
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