To the Bank and Beyond!

Objects have long been a central element of movies. Think only of the sled in Citizen Kane or the dingus in The Maltese Falcon.

But what is taking a central position in film making in the first quarter of the 21st century?

Toys. Stuffed animals. Dolls. Things strewn about the inside of minivans with literal reckless abandon.

The most-recent announcement in this regard is that Sony Pictures and Pop Mart are going to create a film based on the Labubu creature, of which some 100 million were sold in 2025.

Labubu | Short Horror Film is not the film Sony and Pop Mart are going to make.

Even before an inch of film is shot it has a couple of reasons for being, neither of which have a whole lot to do with making a quality movie.

For one, Labubu’s home market is China, which is the #1 film market. In 2025 Ne Zha 2 grossed $1.8-billion domestically there—and the top grossing domestic film in the US in 2025, Zootopia 2, hit $428 million.

For another, the Labubu phenomenon was largely launched by South Korean BLACKPINK bandmember Lisa, and with the success of KPop Demon Hunters, the whole KPop cadre is a potential audience.

If a member of BTS happens to be seen with a Labubu, Sony will make serious bank with its film, regardless of its quality.

This is lamentable, but nothing so new. Hollywood has always looked to make bank and, indeed, has largely been built on the backs of cartoons. Steamboat Willie premiered in 1928 and was followed in 1930 by the first Mickey Mouse stuffed toy.

It isn’t a stretch to argue that the current Disney market capitalization of $160 billion was built on the back of that mouse, and the success of the corporation allowed it to buy Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm, which allowed it to make more cartoon- and toy-based movies. (Even to make a series of movies unapologetically titled Toy Story.)

And Hollywood’s fixation on toy properties has led to major success in terms of licensing products, Then there are movies that led to massive toy sales.

Think only of the nearly $30 billion in merch that is generated by the Star Wars franchise—everything from sneakers to hard drives to waffle irons. Toys, too, of course.

And when The Mandalorian & Grogu (the movie format of The Mandalorian series) of drops in May, do you think you’ll be able to avoid seeing Baby Grogus in all manifestations at Target or plastic Beskar helmets?

Then there are live-action movies based on video games, a long list that includes Tomb Raider and Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil to Sonic the Hedgehog.

Last year’s A Minecraft Movie grossed some $960 million, showing how powerful this transition can be.

(It should be noted, however, that this transition from the video game to the motion picture screen is not a lock: the live-action Super Mario Bros. (1983) with Bob Hoskins and John Leguizamo flopped worse than baggy plumber pants.)

Then, of course, there is the ne plus ultra of movies based on toys: Barbie, the 2023 release based on a doll that was introduced in 1959. It grossed some $1.446 billion at the box office.

But Barbie isn’t alone in that doll-to-film space by any means.

There’s the Michael Bay Extended Universe launched in 2007 based on toys produced by Japan’s Takara: Transformers.

The seven live-action Transformers movies grossed $5.28 billion.

This explains why there are reportedly Transformers 8 and Transformers 9 coming because that’s evidently where the money is.

And as Paramount has both Transformers and G.I. Joe — another toy that gave rise to three movies (along with the phrase “action figure” so that boys could play with dolls) — it has a crossover in the works.

Universal may not have action figures in its stable, but it does have ABS plastic blocks: LEGO. The four LEGO theatrical releases have grossed a combined $1 billion, so more are coming.

Filmmakers often quote Walt Disney saying “We don’t make movies to make money. We make money to make more movies.” The justification is that movies like these are made so that the studios can afford to create works of higher quality, which presumes a more discerning audience which looks beyond popcorn in a Fortress of Solitude bucket or Yoshi soft drink cup toppers.

The top five grossing films of 2025 — Avatar: Fire and Ash, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Zootopia 2, Jurassic World Rebirth, and Superman — grossed $6.56 billion. To put that in some perspective, that sum for five movies is almost twice what the entire Ford Motor Company made in 2025 — $3.5 billion.

How much do studios need to make before they can forego Lububus for something with more substance on a consistent basis?