With Barbie on track to crossing $1 billion at the global box office any day now, it seems inevitable that a sequel is on the way.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.

A Barbie sequel is actually a more complicated idea than most other franchise movies getting the green light for an additional movie.

So, why won’t we be seeing Barbie 2 anytime soon?

Keep reading to find out more…

Warner Bros. does not have sequel options for stars Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, nor writer-director Greta Gerwig and co-writer Noah Baumbach, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

When talent signs on for a movie with franchise-potential, like most superhero films or movies based on book series, there’s a clause in the contract that they must do a sequel if the studio decides to make one. Warner Bros. never put this in the contracts for the Barbie talent, so it’s completely up to them if they want to return for a sequel. If the sequel options were in their contracts already, the studio could have announced a new movie already.

Complicating things even further is the fact that both actors and writers are on strike right now, so the studio is unable to negotiate with them right now. A sequel cannot be greenlit until the strikes are over and all of the talent will have huge bargaining power by then!

You can expect Margot, Ryan, and Greta to receive huge paydays if they agree to a second Barbie movie.

Here’s what Greta previously said about the possibility of a sequel.