Pop Mart upgrades Labubu Forest Zone, eyes theme park expansion

Pop Mart is pushing Labubu beyond the blind box shelf and into a place collectors can actually plan a trip around. In Beijing, the company said the upgraded Labubu Forest Zone at Pop Land will open Thursday, April 30, after a year-long renovation, turning one of its best-known characters into the centerpiece of a larger destination in Sun Park, in Chaoyang district.

The refresh is being described as phase 1.5 of the park, and that label matters for fans who track every extension, rerelease, and special edition. Pop Mart said the new version will add more rides, shows, and other experiences built around its strongest intellectual properties, with Labubu at the front of the line. For collectors, that means the Beijing stop is becoming less like a one-off novelty and more like a physical flagship that can be compared alongside product drops, collabs, and store exclusives.

The company already has numbers to back up the experiment. Pop Mart said traffic at Pop Land rose more than 70 percent last year even though only about one-third of the site was open to the public. That kind of demand gives the Labubu zone a very different status from a standard theme-park add-on. It is already a tourist stop for local visitors and out-of-town travelers, which helps explain why the company is using Beijing as the proving ground for a bigger entertainment model.

That model is not staying in Beijing for long if Pop Mart gets its way. Company executives told SCMP they want to build more Pop Land parks on the mainland and overseas, and they are already talking with several cities about expansion. Jeffrey Hu, who heads Pop Land and is vice-president of Pop Mart, said the company wants to copy the format whenever the right opportunity appears, and eventually test a larger resort-style version that mixes theme park facilities, shops, and hotels.

Morningstar analyst Jeff Zhang said overseas parks could help diversify revenue beyond toy merchandising, though he warned that heavier investment could pressure near-term profitability. He pointed to Thailand as a possible overseas candidate because Labubu, Crybaby, and other Pop Mart IP already have strong local appeal. For Labubu fans, the April 30 opening is more than a renovation milestone. It is a sign that Pop Mart wants its characters to be collected not only in boxes, but in person, in a place visitors can return to, map out, and measure against the next launch.