TLL Staff
The Hollywood Reporter just broke the news that Sony Pictures has signed a deal to bring the wildly popular Labubu collectible toys to the big screen.
According to the exclusive story in THR, Sony has secured the screen rights to the Labubu brand and intends to develop a feature film that could eventually launch a franchise. The project is in its earliest stages: No producers or filmmakers are attached yet, and it remains unclear whether the movie will be animated or live-action. Sony declined to comment on the report.
If proven true, it’s the latest move by a major studio to tap into the surging global market for designer toys and pop-culture collectibles. Epitomized best by the film Barbie, films today are often inspired by toy brands, rather than the more traditional scenario in which films inspire new toy lines.
Labubu, the mischievous-looking creature at the center of the toy line, was originally designed by Hong Kong–born, Europe-based artist Kasing Lung. The character first appeared in a series of monster figurines produced by How2Work, but it wasn’t until Chinese retailer Pop Mart took over manufacturing and distribution in 2019 that the brand began its meteoric rise.
That rise has been dramatic, as the somewhat crazed looking creatures started appearing as fashion accessories with several celebrities.
Labubu and its companion characters—including Zimomo, Mokoko and Tycoco—have become fixtures of the global “blind box” craze, in which consumers purchase sealed packages without knowing which figure they contain. Pop Mart helped popularize the format in China, where the mystery element—and the thrill of the reveal—drove demand for certain characters and series.
In the case of Labubu, blind boxes sparked a hypercompetitive secondary market. Collectors have paid staggering sums for rare editions, with some limited artworks and auction pieces reportedly topping six figures. Pop-up events, retail drops and online resales have helped cement Labubu as a cultural phenomenon, first across Southeast Asia and later worldwide.
The frenzy only intensified after star endorsements. In 2024, Blackpink’s Lisa began showcasing Labubu figures as accessories, creating a surge of interest among K-pop fans and broader global audiences. By early 2025, THR reports that Pop Mart’s profits had soared by more than 350 percent, fueled in large part by the brand’s viral success.
Labubu’s leap from collectible to potential cinematic hero fits into a larger Hollywood trend. After decades in which toys typically spun out of movies, the direction has reversed: toy brands themselves are increasingly generating major films. The watershed moment came with 2014’s The Lego Movie, which brought a brand lacking a built-in narrative to box office and critical success. Last year’s Barbie phenomenon, which crossed $1 billion in global ticket sales and earned eight Oscar nominations, solidified the model. This week alone, Sony and Mattel Films announced development of a View-Master movie.
The appetite among studios to develop films from globally recognized toy brands has now become a core strategy, and Labubu gives Sony a chance to tap into one of the hottest properties in the world of collectibles.
While some analysts question whether Labubu represents a long-lasting icon like Hello Kitty or a more fleeting craze akin to Beanie Babies, the property’s fervent fanbase and strong merchandising profile make it an attractive gamble for the studio.
Sony’s Labubu adaptation remains in early development, but the acquisition signals the studio’s confidence in the character’s staying power, and represents yet another milestone in Pop Mart’s evolution from a blind-box retailer to a global pop-culture force.