The Labubu movie is just the latest toy story hitting the big screen

Just when you thought last summer’s collectible craze was over and Google searches for “labubu” had finally cooled off, someone decided to feed the gremlin-like dolls after midnight... with a concept for a new live-action and CGI feature film.

On Thursday, Sony Pictures and Chinese toy giant Pop Mart — the maker of Labubu dolls, the global sensation that raked in a mind-boggling $670 million in sales for the first half of 2025 — announced that a Labubu movie is in “early development,” with the BBC reporting that “Paddington” director Paul King will helm the project.

Action figures

Whether you love or hate the toothy-grinned tchotchkes, it was maybe only a matter of time before Hollywood cashed in on the Labubu frenzy.

Today, the destiny of beloved childhood toys (or adulthood obsessions) seems mostly to be to hit the big screen. Among the first were the “Transformers” franchise movies, based on Hasbro’s popular robot-car convertibles, which have roared since their 2007 debut.

“Transformers” changed Hollywood’s relationship with the toy industry for good, having grossed ~$5.3 billion across just seven films. Not long after, Lego, the world’s biggest toymaker, developed a string of its own blockbusters.

But the “Barbie” movie brought IP-adapted media to a new level in 2023, having taken ~$1.4 billion around the world — making it the best-selling movie based on a real-life toy ever made, as well as the 18th-highest-grossing movie of all time, per Box Office Mojo figures.

However, as Barbiemania helped to speed drive the movie towards fantastic box office numbers, how much did Mattel, the maker of the decades-old dolls, actually benefit from the pink wave?

Immediately after the film’s release, sales of the Barbie brand reversed at Mattel — seeing four consecutive quarters of year-over-year sales declines turn positive, and notching record revenues of $605 million in Q3 2023. Mattel’s Barbie sales also jumped 27% year on year in the following quarter.

While still smaller than Barbie’s pandemic-era sales boost, the film helped to shift more dolls than the company had seen in years... though Mattel’s stock price didn’t grow in line with the surge in interest, and Barbie sales slumped across much of 2024-25.

Valley of the dolls

What can Pop Mart take away from this for its upcoming movie? Well, Mattel shares are continuing to sink as sales fail to deliver; Hasbro’s market cap rise during peak “Transformers” was short-lived; Lego is, of course, Lego. So, while toy movie hits are no guarantee of lasting business success, a new animated kids movie with Chinese origins could at least become box office catnip.