Pop Mart and Sony Pictures develop live-action Labubu movie
Pop Mart’s Labubu is headed to live-action with Sony, and that could mean pricier chase pieces, movie tie-ins and a fresh wave of fakes.
Sony Pictures and Pop Mart have put Labubu on a bigger stage, and collectors should read that as a market event, not just a movie announcement. The two companies are developing a live-action/CGI hybrid based on THE MONSTERS universe, with the project still in early development and unveiled during THE MONSTERS’ 10th-anniversary exhibition tour stop in Paris.
The setup matters because Labubu already has the kind of backstory toy films usually need to work. Hong Kong-born illustrator Kasing Lung introduced the character in his 2015 picture-book series The Monsters, and Pop Mart later licensed the character into the blind-box machine that made it a global obsession. Paul King is attached to direct, co-write and produce, Steven Levenson is on board as co-writer, and Kasing Lung is serving as executive producer. That gives the project creative legs beyond a one-off mascot grab.
For collectors, the bigger question is what happens next on shelves and in resale. Labubu exploded into a viral craze in 2024, helped by celebrity exposure and social-media buzz, and Pop Mart has already seen how hard that demand can hit the business. The company said 2025 revenue rose 185% to 37.12 billion yuan, or $5.38 billion, with growth driven heavily by Labubu-related sales. When a single character can drive that kind of number, a studio-backed movie can easily push the market into another gear.
That usually means three things. First, expect new movie-tied drops and collaborations, because Pop Mart has every incentive to turn the film into another line of chase figures, plush, and special editions. Second, older Labubu releases can get pulled even tighter in the secondary market if new fans start hunting the original sculpts instead of waiting for the tie-in merch. Third, knockoffs tend to multiply once a niche collectible gets a mainstream spotlight, and Labubu has already become the kind of character that attracts fast-moving fakes the moment demand spikes.
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The deal also fits Pop Mart’s wider push beyond blind boxes. The company has opened a London headquarters for its European business and kept expanding overseas, a sign that Labubu is being treated less like a toy hit and more like a global franchise with room for films, retail, and licensing. Investors have already worried about Pop Mart leaning too hard on one IP, but that concentration is exactly why this movie matters to collectors.
Labubu started as a character in a picture-book world inspired by Nordic myths. Now it is heading toward a screen version that could reshape what lands in the blind box, what sells out first, and what ends up overpriced or fake by the time the credits roll.
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