The world is ready, willing, and eagerly awaiting Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling’s impending collaboration on Greta Gerwig’s massively-anticipated Barbie, but a new report offers that the duo could be re-teaming in short order for the completely unnecessary 1960s-set prequel to the Ocean’s franchise.
Having already delivered a George Clooney trilogy and a Sandra Bullock spinoff, there apparently seems to be some juice left to squeeze from the zesty series of heist capers. Why does it have to be an Ocean’s movie and not just a crime thriller set during the 60s? Nobody seems to know, but we’d hazard a guess that the answer boils down to nothing more than “IP”.
Bombshell director and Austin Powers veteran Jay Roach will be behind the camera, with Matthew Belloni of Puck outlining that Gosling is in talks for a starring role. Having raked in over $1.4 billion at the box office across its four installments so far, Ocean’s definitely ticks the theatrical boxes that new Warner Bros. Discovery David Zaslav is looking for.
A proven money-maker that doesn’t break the bank on a budgetary level compared to the majority of other blockbuster properties, it also helps that one of the main selling points of Ocean’s to date has been the assemblage of A-listers gathered together for every single adventure.
Should Barbie deliver on its undoubted potential, then audiences will be clamoring to see more of Gosling and Robbie together onscreen, and catapulting them into a well-known brand that’s been around for decades would instantly generate buzz. That still doesn’t mean it’s got a reason to exist, but it makes sense from a business point of view.