Margot Robbie to earn ‘$50 million’ from Barbie earnings and box office bonuses

Australian star took on the lead role and produced the movie

Margot Robbie is set to earn a massive payday from Barbie.

The Australian star played the lead role in the film based on the eponymous Mattel doll while also serving as a producer.

According to three sources cited by Variety, Robbie is set to earn roughly $50m (£39.4m) in salary and box office bonuses.

Robbie’s representatives did not immediately respond to The Independent’s request for comment.

Robbie produced the film via her production company, LuckyChap Entertainment, which she founded in 2014 with her now-husband, Tom Ackerley. Their past productions include the 2020 films Birds of Prey and Promising Young Woman.

Last week, it was reported that Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig, had sailed past $1bn at the global box office – the highest figure of any film helmed by a female director.

According to Variety, Gerwig is also expected to take home bonuses due to the film’s success.

Margot Robbie in ‘Barbie’ (Warner Bros Pictures)

Only 53 movies have ever made over $1bn, not accounting for inflation.

Three movies that were co-directed by women are still ahead of Barbie, including Frozen ($1.3bn) and Frozen 2 ($1.45bn) both co-directed by Jennifer Lee and Captain Marvel ($1.1bn), co-directed by Anna Boden.

Barbie also outpaced Christopher Nolan’s 2008 superhero film The Dark Knight to notch the best first two weeks in cinemas of any Warner Bros release.

In the press circuit ahead of Barbie’s 21 July release, Robbie revealed that she had paid off her mother’s mortgage after her breakout role in Martin Scorsese’s 2013 white-collar crime drama, The Wolf of Wall Street.

“She’d take money out of the house mortgage, lend me money, so I always knew I got to pay that back,” the Barbie star said on CBS’s Sunday Morning.

“And then one day, when I made enough money, I just paid that whole mortgage off completely. I was like, ‘Mum, don’t even worry about that mortgage anymore. It doesn’t even exist anymore.’

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“Everything I owed my mum, I had it written down,” Robbie continued, adding that she “kept” that piece of paper. “Honestly, anyone in my position... you’d do that for your mum,” she said.

Comedian and podcaster Marc Maron recently defended the film against right-wing men who were accusing Barbie of pandering to “woke” sensibilities.

The film is out now in cinemas.