A Labubu movie is in the works. Here’s what it could look like

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Labubu, the viral plush toys that have captured the hearts (and wallets) of Gen Zs around the globe, could be headed to the big screen after Sony Pictures acquired the screen rights to the furry collectibles.

For the uninitiated, Labubu is a mega-popular blind box collectible from Chinese retailer Pop Mart. Over the past few years, interest in these toothy goblin figures has skyrocketed, as collectors desperately try to secure the rarest types.

Labubu dolls were already big business. Now, they’re heading for the big screen.

Though no producer or filmmaker is yet attached to the future Labubu movie, it is another example of studios going full throttle on bringing beloved toys to the big screen after Barbie received eight Academy Award nominations in 2024.

This isn’t a new phenomenon. For example, we’ve had the acclaimed Lego Movie (2014) and the far less acclaimed Battleship film (2012). But the rate at which they’re being pumped out appears to be accelerating. In fact, at least 45 films based off Mattel’s toy properties are said to be in the works, 16 of which have been formally announced.

In the past year, a Hot Wheels film has been confirmed (directed by Wicked’s Jon M. Chu, no less), as well as a Matchbox movie starring John Cena. And remember the old-school stereoscope toy View-Master? Well, Sony Pictures and Mattel are making that into a movie too.

And though not strictly “toys”, the Settlers of Catan board game will be transformed into a series of productions by Netflix, and Monopoly is heading for a live-action feature produced by none other than Margot Robbie.

The question around most of these productions, however, is what story they’re going to tell. Most, including the Labubu dolls, have no set background or “origin story”, leaving filmmakers relatively free to do with them what they will. So, with that in mind, here are some of the Culture team’s predictions as to what a Labubu story could entail.

Dawn of the Labubu

I predict this movie will be less about the actual toy – what even is a Labubu, a monster wearing the skinned fur of its victims, like Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs? – and more about the craze, a satire on mindless consumerism in the vein of Dawn of the Dead or the opening scene of Eli Roth’s Thanksgiving or the first half of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

A movie about Labubu-obsessed Gen Z hordes, a la Dawn of the Dead? Now that’s a movie I’d like to see.

Directed by Zach Cregger (Weapons) and set in the semi-dystopian present, hordes of white-collar Gen Zs, exhausted after queuing for days to claim the rarest Labubu yet (a four-inch keychain for their vapes), end up clawing at each other’s throats and ripping out each other’s eyeballs after someone jumps the line, sending rivers of blood pouring down their local mall.

But a young orphan-turned-aspiring MMA fighter, Agnes of Rome (played by Jenna Ortega) – trying to secure the toy for her Labubu- (and vape-) obsessed foster mum (played by Aubrey Plaza), the only person who ever showed her kindness in this cold world – gets unexpectedly caught in the fray. Robert Moran

Labubu goes bump in the night

Don’t be fooled by their plush, miniature bodies and cutesy rabbit ears. Labubu dolls, with their dead eyes and razor-sharp teeth, are the stuff of nightmares. Combine that with Gen Z’s feverish determination to secure as many of these little monstrosities as possible, and you have yourself the perfect horror movie.

Let me set the scene. A 14-year-old girl is desperate for the world’s rarest Labubu – the first ever with the ability to speak (think Furby, but AI). But with the prized collectible sold-out everywhere, the girl resorts to a sketchy online re-seller, where she appears to find the real-deal for an exorbitant amount of money.

You thought Furby was creepy? Just wait until you wake up to a Labubu’s dead eyes.

When the furry toy arrives a few days later, it quickly becomes clear that something isn’t right. The girl wakes up to find her other collectibles – Sonny Angels and Cry Babies – have all been decapitated. Her little brother, once a rambunctious prankster, inexplicably goes mute after trying to steal the Labubu. And something awful happens to the family cat … The girl eventually decides to dispose of the deadly knockoff, but this “lafufu” proves it won’t go down without a fight.

I’m picturing an ungodly combination of Toy Story and Annabelle – perhaps with a bit of Child’s Play violence thrown in for good measure. And given the online conspiracy theories that suggest Labubu dolls are linked to the Mesopotamian demon Pazuzu, this movie has practically already written itself.
Nell Geraets

Nothing we haven’t seen before

My first reaction upon hearing that Sony has acquired the rights to develop a movie based on Labubu was despair. It’s the Kool-Aid Man plotline from The Studio come to life. Turns out the Seth Rogen-Evan Goldberg production wasn’t a satire after all, it was a documentary.

Upon reflection, though, my reaction is … well, still despair. But also kinda “meh, whatever”.
There’s a term for film IP that has the potential to be adapted into merch, “toyetic”, but the trade runs both ways. At least since Star Wars begat the era of merchandise tie-ins, Hollywood has been fixated with turning movies into toy ranges, and toys into movies.

The 1977 movie Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure is credited as the first feature to be based on a toy, but there have been countless others since: Transformers, GI Joe, The Lego Movie franchise, and of course, the biggest momma of them all, Barbie.

To me, Labubu looks like a cross between The Smurfs (which began as a comic, but spawned toys almost from its inception in 1958, and the first of many movies in 1965) and the creatures from Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are.

A smurf or a Labubu? Honestly, it all looks the same these days.

The latter spawned a film from Spike Jonze (that was incidentally shot in Australia) that was very good but did only middling box office. The Smurfs franchise, on the other hand, is not going to land on any critics’ best-of lists, but has been a hugely productive cash cow for more than 60 years.
No question which one Sony will be hoping to emulate with Labubu.
Karl Quinn

Kids’ fodder

I often see Labubu dolls as my sleep paralysis demon. But the cuteness in its marketing means a Labubu film by Sony is likely to be a kids’ movie (as much as I would have loved for this to be a Love Death + Robots episode).

I’d like to think there will be a human element, nodding to the number of bags they hang from and Gen Z’s impassioned determination to “collect them all”. The Barbie movie and Disney’s Toy Story films certainly never shied away from humanising the toys, giving them personalities and making it clear where they stood with their owners. I can’t see why the same can’t happen for Labubu.

The Labubu movie could take a leaf out of Toy Story’s book and bring the furry little goblins to life.

It could be all fun and games, with the dolls speaking in “Labubus” (like the TikTok sound). They’d be the companion everyone wants … Until they’re not, perhaps?
Gabriela Sumampow

Frankenbubu

In an ideal world, a Labubu cinematic property would be a heartfelt, one-and-done flick with the main message being to not judge a book by its cover, and the importance of the pursuit of goodness.

Before the ugly handbag charm was sold by Pop Mart in a lottery-like ritual, Labubu was a Nordic mythology-inspired character created by artist Kasing Lung. Said character is, despite its serrated teeth and pointed ears, kind-hearted and always wants to help (even though it frequently accidentally achieves the opposite).

We’ve seen the success of stories that explore how appearances can be deceiving – Frankenstein, most recently adapted by Guillermo del Toro with Jacob Elordi, is eternally ripe for the picking thanks to the true monster being the Creature’s creator – but I don’t have high hopes.

Labubu, thanks to blind boxes, has turned into a supernova of hyper-consumerism. While I hope I’m wrong and that we will get another Barbie, I’m bracing myself for Rainbow Brite and the Star Stealer (1985), Hallmark’s bargain-bin attempt to capitalise on Care Bears′ television success. That film has a zero per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes, and, as put by the Boston Globe’s Michael Blowen, it was “so incompetently crafted that it makes the Saturday-morning cartoons seem like Disney classics”.
Bronte Gossling

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