Labubu dolls outside a souvenir shop in Cagliari, Italy (Getty Images)

DOLLYWOOD

The Labubu movie is just the latest toy story hitting the big screen

After smash-hit Barbie, Lego, and Transformers movies, Pop Mart’s viral dolls will now get the Hollywood treatment.

3/20/26 9:55AM

Just when you thought last summer’s collectible craze was over and Google searches for “labubu” had finally cooled off, someone decided to feed the gremlin-like dolls after midnight... with a concept for a new live-action and CGI feature film.

On Thursday, Sony Pictures and Chinese toy giant Pop Mart — the maker of Labubu dolls, the global sensation that raked in a mind-boggling $670 million in sales for the first half of 2025 — announced that a Labubu movie is in “early development,” with the BBC reporting that “Paddington” director Paul King will helm the project.

Action figures

Whether you love or hate the toothy-grinned tchotchkes, it was maybe only a matter of time before Hollywood cashed in on the Labubu frenzy.

Today, the destiny of beloved childhood toys (or adulthood obsessions) seems mostly to be to hit the big screen. Among the first were the “Transformers” franchise movies, based on Hasbro’s popular robot-car convertibles, which have roared since their 2007 debut.

Top grossing toy movies chart — Sherwood News

“Transformers” changed Hollywood’s relationship with the toy industry for good, having grossed ~$5.3 billion across just seven films. Not long after, Lego, the world’s biggest toymaker, developed a string of its own blockbusters.

But the “Barbie” movie brought IP-adapted media to a new level in 2023, having taken ~$1.4 billion around the world — making it the best-selling movie based on a real-life toy ever made, as well as the 18th-highest-grossing movie of all time, per Box Office Mojo figures.

However, as Barbiemania helped to speed drive the movie towards fantastic box office numbers, how much did Mattel, the maker of the decades-old dolls, actually benefit from the pink wave?

Mattel Barbie sales boost chart — Sherwood News

Immediately after the film’s release, sales of the Barbie brand reversed at Mattel — seeing four consecutive quarters of year-over-year sales declines turn positive, and notching record revenues of $605 million in Q3 2023. Mattel’s Barbie sales also jumped 27% year on year in the following quarter.

While still smaller than Barbie’s pandemic-era sales boost, the film helped to shift more dolls than the company had seen in years... though Mattel’s stock price didn’t grow in line with the surge in interest, and Barbie sales slumped across much of 2024-25.

Valley of the dolls

What can Pop Mart take away from this for its upcoming movie? Well, Mattel shares are continuing to sink as sales fail to deliver; Hasbro’s market cap rise during peak “Transformers” was short-lived; Lego is, of course, Lego. So, while toy movie hits are no guarantee of lasting business success, a new animated kids movie with Chinese origins could at least become box office catnip.

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Max Knoblauch4/28/26

Disney is no longer considering spinning off ESPN, reports Business Insider

Disney’s new CEO, Josh D’Amaro, is said to have decided against spinning off sports giant ESPN, according to reporting by Business Insider.

The House of Mouse may still seek other partners to take minority stakes in ESPN, per the report. The NFL gained a 10% stake in the company last year in a deal that saw ESPN acquire NFL Network.

There’s been an ongoing push for several years to spin off ESPN, both inside Disney and from analysts and activist investors. Earlier this year, ESPN Chair Jimmy Pitaro downplayed rumors that emerged amid D’Amaro’s takeover, saying he’s heard the rumor since “the day [he] started at ESPN eight years ago.”

Disney shares were essentially flat in after-hours trading following the report.

Disney has decided to keep ESPN

Disney shares were essentially flat in after-hours trading following the report.

Saleah Blancaflor4/28/26

“The Devil Wears Prada 2” strutting toward a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes

Gird your loins. “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” the highly anticipated sequel from Disney and 20th Century Studios starring Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci, comes out this week.

Over the past few months, the studio ramped up its marketing, so you may have seen the fictional Runway magazine with Blunt’s Emily Charlton on the cover at a newsstand pop-up, or come across brand partnerships with L’Oréal Paris, TRESemmé, Tweezerman, or Diet Coke — the list goes on. The global press tour has also taken over social media, with the main cast — and their outfits — traveling across Mexico City, Tokyo, Seoul, Shanghai, New York City, and London to promote the movie. Hathaway and Tucci even appeared throughout a “Jeopardy!” category on Monday night.

But what do critics think of the movie? While the embargo for formal reviews lifts on Wednesday, April 29, at 12 p.m. ET, the embargo for social media reactions has already lifted, and according to critics from The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, AwardsWatch, and other publications, the general consensus seems mostly positive.

AwardsWatch Editor-in-Chief Erik Anderson posted on X that the sequel “has no right to be as good as it is.” He added, “Just the right kind and number of callbacks and earned nostalgia, Anne Hathaway continues to be our most vibrant star.”

Meanwhile, THR Senior Editor Alex Weprin referred to it as “a biting media parody wrapped up in high fashion,” while Variety Senior Artisans Editor Jazz Tangcay called it “the perfect sequel that exceeded all expectations.”

To be considered “fresh,” movies have to receive at least 60% on Rotten Tomatoes. And while “The Devil Wears Prada 2” hits theaters in only a few days, prediction markets are currently pricing in odds that the movie will score above 65% on the site. That’s all.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ First Reactions Say the Sequel Is ‘Charming,’ ‘Genuinely Heartwarming’ and Destined to ‘Be a Massive Hit’

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

Millie Giles

OFF THE WALL

4/27/26

The Michael Jackson biopic has hauled $217 million in its global weekend debut

Over the weekend, “Michael” moonwalked to the biggest-ever opening for a biopic.

GERMANY-USA-MUSIC-CINEMA-CELEBRITIES-JACKSON

Saleah Blancaflor4/23/26

Justin Bieber’s music keeps surging on streaming after Coachella

You better belieb it. After Justin Bieber headlined the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, California, Billboard reports the pop star is experiencing the biggest non-Super Bowl catalog bump this year, with his music tripling in streams just days after his first set on April 11.

Following Bieber’s performance on Weekend 2 at Coachella on April 18 (which included appearances from Billie Eilish and SZA), his streams climbed even higher.

On Monday (April 20), Bieber’s streams reached a new high for the year, amassing 32.4 million official on-demand US streams, according to Luminate, which is a 12% increase from his total the previous Monday (just over 29 million) and a 5% gain from the previous Tuesday (30.9 million), his previous high-water mark for 2026.

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

Since the Coachella bump, he’s had a total of six days with at least 30 million streams, compared with only four days in all of 2025, when he released his “Swag” album.

Spotify reported that following Bieber’s first Coachella set, the pop star reached No. 1 on Spotify’s Global Top Artist chart, with his catalog surpassing 77 million streams in a single day, which marked his biggest streaming day of the year.

While prediction markets currently show that Bruno Mars is in the lead at 74% for the artist with the most monthly Spotify listeners at the end of April, Bieber could slowly catch up with a week left in the month. The “Baby” singer is currently in second place, with his odds at 27%.

Justin Bieber’s Post-Coachella Streams Aren’t Done Spiking Yet

(Event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC — probabilities referenced or sourced from KalshiEx LLC or ForecastEx LLC.)

Since the Coachella bump, he’s had a total of six days with at least 30 million streams, compared with only four days in all of 2025, when he released his “Swag” album.

Max Knoblauch4/21/26

Xbox cuts price of its Game Pass subscription by 23%, removes new “Call of Duty” games

A Halley’s Comet-level event in the world of subscriptions is occurring at Microsoft: the company announced it will lower the price of its Game Pass Ultimate from $29.99 to $22.99.

The move comes a little over a week after reports revealed an internal memo from new Xbox head Asha Sharma in which the exec told employees that Game Pass has “become too expensive.” Back in October, before Sharma’s tenure began, Xbox hiked its Game Pass subscription by 50%.

With the price drop, Game Pass will also see a major shift: new “Call of Duty” titles will no longer be added to the service at launch, instead joining the library about a year later during the following holiday season. The subscription will still cost a bit more than it did before the popular titles were added in 2024.

According to estimates reported by Bloomberg, the decision to put “Call of Duty” on Game Pass cost Xbox more than $300 million.

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