Oh, great. 🙄 Just when you thought Hollywood couldn’t sink any lower, they’re making a movie about Labubu. Yes, those fuzzy, vaguely terrifying dolls that inexplicably remain popular. I guess we’ve run out of original ideas, huh? Sony, you disappoint me. 🤦♀️
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio “picked up the screen rights to the Chinese doll brand with the aim of making a movie and, in success, launching a franchise.” Because that’s exactly what the world needs: more Labubu. I can already see the endless sequels and spin-offs clogging up streaming services. 🤮
They don’t have any details about a story or about the creators at this point, nor whether the film will be live-action or animated. (Sony’s animation studio is behind such major recent hits as Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Kpop Demon Hunters.) So, basically, they have no idea what they’re doing. But hey, at least they have the rights to a creepy doll. That’s half the battle, right? 🤣 Maybe they’ll make Labubu a superhero! Or a gritty, Oscar-bait drama! The possibilities are endless (and equally terrible). 🎬
The little critters originated in China in the late 2010s, then bloomed into a full-blown pop culture fad in the last few years after they started being sold by the Chinese toy company Pop Mart, who offer the Labubus in blind boxes. Because nothing says “quality entertainment” like a product designed for maximum consumerism and blind faith. I’m sure this movie will be a profound statement on the human condition. 😌
Labubus would be far from the first toy brand to become a movie. In recent years, action figures and board games have become a whole subset of the blockbuster industrial complex. We’ve gotten films based on established toy brands like G.I. Joe, Transformers, Ouija, Battleship, American Girl dolls, Bratz, and Trolls. Oh, and there was also a little film based on Barbie dolls that grossed $1.4 billion all by itself. (Heard of it?) So, yeah, expect more soulless corporate cash grabs in the future. At least we’ll have plenty of overpriced popcorn to cry into. 🍿
In that film environment, obviously someone was going to try to make a Labubu movie. The only question left now is whether the project actually makes it all the way into production — and whether Labubus are still such a white-hot property by the time it is ready for wide release. Let’s be real, though, even if Labubu fades into obscurity, some studio executive will still greenlight this monstrosity. Because Hollywood loves to gamble on sure-fire failures. 🎉
Finn McFrame, celebrated satirical mastermind and self-proclaimed “Emperor of Irony,” started his illustrious career as a cinematographer, where his expertise in capturing every single frame of a squirrel stealing a baguette earned him accolades at obscure film festivals.
Born in the glamorous town of Boring, Oregon, Finn grew up with dreams of being a Hollywood director until he realized that satire, not cinema, was his true calling—or at least the one that let him sleep until noon.
Finn McFrame: changing the world, one satirical lens flare at a time.
