LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 12: Margot Robbie attends the “Barbie” European Premiere at Cineworld Leicester Square on July 12, 2023 in London, England. (Photo by Samir Hussein/WireImage)
Barbie is on track to becoming one of the blockbuster movies of the summer. The film follows the famous doll as she and Ken embark on a journey to the real world.
Margot Robbie is the star and producer of the film. It was a passion project for Robbie, who went to great lengths to get the movie made.
Margot Robbie compared Barbie to Jurassic Park during a meeting with studio executives
In Hollywood, it’s hard to get a project off the ground. Even a famous actress like Robbie is prone to having her ideas shut down. Barbie was a project near and dear to her heart, and Robbie did what she could to convince executives to greenlight the movie.
In an interview with Collider, Robbie recalled her meeting with Mattel and Warner Bros. The actress pitched the idea of a Barbie film by comparing it to the Steven Spielberg classic Jurassic Park.
“I think my pitch in the greenlight meeting was the studios have prospered so much when they’re brave enough to pair a big idea with a visionary director. And then I gave a series of examples like, ‘dinosaurs and Spielberg’ that and that, that and that – pretty much naming anything that’s been incredible and made a ton of money for the studios over the years.”
With Oscar-nominated director Greta Gerwig at the helm, Robbie sweetened the deal with executives.
“And I was like, ‘Now you’ve got Barbie and Greta Gerwig.’ 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?!”
Robbie’s pitch worked and Barbie makes its long-awaited debut on July 21st. The film is generating lots of buzz and is projected to be a box-office hit. As for whether it’ll be a billion-dollar success like Jurassic Park, anything is possible.
