Sony might’ve just landed one half of the next Barbenheimer.
Driving the news: Sony Pictures has acquired the screen rights to the wildly popular Labubu plush toys. The aim is to release an animated or live-action Labubu movie soon, with plans to turn it into a full-fledged franchise.
Catch-up: The Labubu craze has kicked into high gear this year, with their popularity catapulted, in part, by celebrities like Rihanna, Lady Gaga, and Kim Kardashian sporting the monster-like elven creatures (they don’t look like elves to us either, but we looked it up!).
- The toys brought in a staggering US$670 million for its parent company, Pop Mart, in the first six months of the year — a 668% increase from 2024.
- To put that in perspective, only $374 million worth of Barbies and $626 million worth of Hot Wheels were sold during the same period.
Why it matters: The Labubu movie deal marries two growing trends: Hollywood's obsession with all things IP (including toys), and the rise of ‘Kidults’, or adults who enjoy media and products traditionally targeted to children. Sony isn’t banking on kids to see this flick — they’re targeting the millions of adults who buy these plushies for their own enjoyment.
- Over 20% of all plush toy sales last year were made by adults who, believe it or not, were buying them for themselves.
Zoom out: The recent success of The Lego Movie franchise, which raked in over US$1.1 billion, and the eight-time Oscar-nominated Barbie movie have proven that the toy-to-Hollywood path can certainly be a winner.—LA