Margot Robbie is being richly rewarded for her key role in bringing “Barbie” to the big screen. The star and producer behind the summer’s biggest hit stands to make roughly $50 million in salary and box office bonuses, according to three individuals with knowledge of her deal.
“Barbie” director and co-writer Greta Gerwig will also likely receive bonuses because of the film’s outsized success. “Barbie” has earned an astonishing $526.3 million at the domestic box office since it opened a month ago, as well as $657.6 million at the international box office. That comes out to $1.18 billion globally — and that figure should keep climbing given that “Barbie” is still topping box office charts. The film is now the second highest-grossing release in the history of Warner Bros., behind “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2.” It’s also the highest-grossing film ever from a female director, overtaking the previous record holder, “Frozen II,” which was co-directed by Jennifer Lee.
In addition to bringing the popular children’s toy to glittering life, Robbie produced the film through her production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, which she founded in 2014 with her now-husband, Tom Ackerley, and friends Josey McNamara and Sophia Kerr. The goal of the company was to tell women’s stories on screen and support women creators behind the scenes. Its slate of projects includes the Oscar-nominated “Promising Young Woman,” the superhero sequel “Birds of Prey” and the Netflix series “Maid.”
Robbie has been nominated for two Academy Awards for her performances in “I, Tonya” and “Bombshell.” She first came to prominence in Martin Scorsese’s “Wolf of Wall Street” and scored commercial hits with “Suicide Squad” and “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” But none of those films has come close to achieving the lofty box office heights of “Barbie,” which is shaping up to be one of the bigger blockbusters in movie history.
Warner Bros. declined to comment and a representative for Robbie had no comment.
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