Sony Sets New Labubu Movie Following Toys Becoming Pop Culture Phenomenon

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A movie based on the popular Labubu toys might be in the works. These collectible plush toys, known for their fluffy fur and toothy smiles, were created by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung and first appeared in 2015. Their popularity surged in 2024 after KPop star Lisa was spotted carrying a Labubu keychain.

Labubus have quickly become incredibly popular all over the world. Many other famous faces have been seen with them too, including Rosé from Blackpink, BTS members RM, J-Hope, and V, as well as Cher, Hilary Duff, Lance Bass, Kim Kardashian, Paris Hilton, and Michelle Yeoh, who won an Oscar for Everything Everywhere All at Once.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sony Pictures has obtained the rights to make a movie based on the Labubu character. If the film is successful, Sony hopes to create a series of movies. Currently, there are no details available about the movie, such as whether it will be animated, and no key filmmakers have been announced yet.

If the project succeeds, Labubu will join many other toy brands that have been turned into movies. Toy-based films first became popular in the 1980s.

The 1980s were filled with animated and live-action movie adaptations of popular toy lines, including The Garbage Pail Kids Movie, Masters of the Universe, G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987), The Transformers: The Movie, My Little Pony: The Movie, and The Care Bears Movie, which actually had two sequels released in theaters before the decade ended.

I’ve noticed toy-based movies are everywhere now, and it’s pretty wild! For a while, things were a bit slow in theaters, mostly with the Transformers movies doing really well – they’ve made over $5 billion! But then Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie came out in 2023 and absolutely blew up – it made over $1.4 billion at the box office! It really kicked off a whole new wave of movies based on toys.

Following the success of the Barbie movie, Mattel quickly began developing several other film projects with different studios. These include a horror movie based on Magic 8 Ball, and films inspired by View-Master, Polly Pocket, Bob the Builder, Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots, Hot Wheels, and the game Uno. Also, Amazon MGM Studios has officially started production on a live-action Masters of the Universe reboot that has been in the works for a long time.

Not all of these movies are certain to be made, particularly if the initial releases aren’t as successful as Barbie. While Labubu is currently a well-known brand, there’s a risk of it being fast-tracked into production. If toy-based movies start to lose popularity, Sony might hesitate to move forward with the project, especially if interest in Labubu fades before filming begins.

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2025-11-15 17:41