Here’s How Much Margot Robbie Is Getting Paid for Barbie

Margot Robbie served as a producer on Barbie long before she was cast in the titular role of the now $1.18 billion-plus grossing film. And the paycheck for all her work on- and off-camera, Variety reports, is legitimately staggering.

Three individuals with knowledge of the deal told the outlet that Robbie is set to make roughly $50 million in salary and box office bonuses for her work on the film. Her production company LuckyChap Entertainment acquired rights to the Barbie IP years before the film ultimately came out.

Robbie spoke to Vogue about that process, saying, “It wasn’t that I ever wanted to play Barbie, or dreamt of being Barbie, or anything like that. This is going to sound stupid, but I really didn’t even think about playing Barbie until years into developing the project.”

She was able to structure her production company’s deal with Mattel so that director Greta Gerwig, who co-wrote the script with her husband Noah Baumbach, had full creative freedom.

In her pitch to Mattel, Robbie said she told the company, “We of course would want to honor the 60-year legacy that this brand has. But we have to acknowledge that there are a lot of people who aren’t fans of Barbie. And in fact, aren’t just indifferent to Barbie. They actively hate Barbie. And have a real issue with Barbie. We need to find a way to acknowledge that.”

Robbie said in a later interview with Collider that she tried to sell the film to industry professionals by telling producers in an early pitch meeting that she thought Barbie could make a billion dollars.

“I think my pitch in the green-light meeting was the studios have prospered so much when they’re brave enough to pair a big idea with a visionary director,” she said. “And then I gave a series of examples like, ‘dinosaurs and [Steven] 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. And I was like, ‘And now you’ve got Barbie and Greta Gerwig.’ And 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 clearly wasn’t overselling at all—and is being rightly rewarded for that.

Senior News and Strategy Editor

Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.