The rise of Labubu from an indie art toy to a global collectible trend has now taken its next predictable step: a feature film. Sony Pictures has secured the rights to develop a movie based on the wide-eyed, sharp-toothed figures, according to industry reports. The agreement is still in its earliest stage, with no creative team or cast attached, and no clarity on whether the project will lean into live action, animation, or some combination of both. For now, the studio simply owns the rights and appears interested in testing whether the dolls’ cultural moment can translate into a broader entertainment property.
Labubu’s path to this point has always been a little unconventional. The characters were created by Kasing Lung, a Hong Kong–born artist raised in the Netherlands whose work draws heavily from Nordic folklore. The toys themselves sit somewhere between cute and unsettling, with their childlike silhouettes and mischievous expressions giving them a distinct identity in an otherwise crowded market of designer collectibles. Initially manufactured by How2Work when they debuted in 2015, they eventually found a wider audience through Pop Mart, the Chinese retailer known for its blind-box distribution model. That approach helped turn Labubu into a hunt-driven collectible: buyers never know exactly what figure they’ll get, and limited runs can become highly sought after.
The recent global surge in Labubu’s visibility can largely be traced to a single pop-culture moment. When Lisa from the K-pop group Blackpink was photographed with a Labubu keychain, interest spiked across Asia and quickly spread beyond it. What began as a niche fandom rooted in art-toy communities expanded into a broader consumer trend, with long lines forming at Pop Mart stores and secondary-market prices climbing as collectors tried to track down specific variations.
Given this trajectory, the move toward a film adaptation fits a familiar pattern in the entertainment industry. Studios frequently look to established characters with built-in audiences, even if those audiences originated in unexpected corners of culture. Whether Labubu’s eerie charm can carry a full narrative remains to be seen, especially with no creative direction announced, but the studio’s bet reflects confidence that the dolls’ visibility hasn’t peaked yet. It also continues a larger wave of adaptations that translate collectible toys, internet icons, and niche curiosities into mainstream media, sometimes with mixed results.
If the project moves forward, it will have to navigate the challenge of capturing what makes Labubu resonate with fans while avoiding the pitfalls of turning a design-driven object into a feature-length story. For now, the film remains a blank slate—an early rights deal waiting for a vision to match the dolls’ odd appeal.
