Last year, Labubu was everywhere — from kids’ playrooms to women’s purses — and while the initial fervor for the character has died down, we might all be in for another bout of Labubu fever. Pop Mart, the retailer that created Labubu, is teaming up with Sony Pictures to bring the “ugly-cute” character to the big screen, multiple sources report.
The film will be a live action/CGI hybrid directed by Paul King, best known for Paddington and Wonka. King also will produce and co-write the script with screenwriter Steven Levenson.
Bringing a narrative film to life for a character with no existing “world” can be a challenge, but if Barbie proved anything it’s that it can be done and, when done well, it can be a major boost for both box offices and a brand.
Pop Mart Retail Model Built on Hype and Drop Culture
Labubu wasn’t necessarily ever meant to be more than a toy. In fact for a long time she (yes, Labubu is officially a girl) was just a part of Pop Mart’s The Monsters character series from artist Kasing Lung, which also includes Zimomo, Mokoko, Tycoco (Labubu’s boyfriend), Spooky and Pato. And while the China-based retailer may not have predicted Labubu’s success, its entire model is built around collectible fervor and drop culture.
Pop Mart sells collectible designer toys primarily in a blind-box format; most of its customers are adults. Founded in 2010, the company moved into the U.S. market in 2022 with a pop-up in LA that was swiftly followed by a permanent store at the American Dream mall in New Jersey. The retailer now has upwards of 45 locations across the U.S. and, for fans in markets without a store, Pop Mart also has a network of 43 Robo Shops — vending machines that dispense blind boxes — in high-traffic areas like malls and airports.
Pop Mart’s characters have long been viral phenomena in the company’s home market, with new drops regularly drawing crowds online and in stores, but Labubu was Pop Mart’s first international breakout. In fact, this little plush creature was a major driver of Pop Mart’s valuation of over $40 billion in 2025. At its height, Labubu fervor drove more than 1.5 million dedicated TikTok videos, sold out livestream drops in seconds and even caused fights to break out in stores.
Labubu Film will help Build Character Assets for Other Products, Projects
Enthusiasm for Labubu has cooled significantly this year as fever moves into fatigue (an evolution common with many viral trends), but it’s still a significant IP pillar for Pop Mart and remains popular with collectors.
Movies aren’t a core part of Pop Mart’s model, Pop Mart Chief Operating Officer Si told CNBC, but the Labubu film is part of a larger strategy: “What we look forward to more is using storytelling to help people fall in love with these IPs more deeply or find those points of connection. I think this is the core point of what we want to achieve with our content,” he said, adding that the benefits of a movie are twofold: “On one hand, it lets people see the [characters’] world more intuitively. On the other hand, it generates a large amount of material. Some of this material can become product designs, some can inspire our theme park design.”
