Pop Mart’s Labubu headed to big screen in collaboration with Sony Pictures

Chinese toymaker Pop Mart and Sony Pictures Entertainment announced on Thursday a feature film starring Labubu, the company’s most popular character.Analysts said the film was a strategic move to extend Labubu’s intellectual property (IP) value and support medium-term growth, following the trajectory of global icons like Barbie and Hello Kitty.The film, still in early development, would be a mix of live action and computer-generated imagery, Pop Mart said in a statement.Lung Ka-sing, the creator of Labubu, would serve as an executive producer, it said, while Paul King, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts-nominated filmmaker behind Wonka and Paddington, was attached to produce and direct. King would also co-write the script with Tony Award-winner Steven Levenson, the statement said.Lung, born in Hong Kong and raised in the Netherlands, first brought Labubu and The Monsters to life in a picture book series.The film project was announced at the Paris stop of a global exhibition tour celebrating The Monsters’ 10th anniversary, according to the company.