Chinese toymaker Pop Mart said it will produce a film based on its hugely popular Labubu dolls, a move that could boost Beijing’s image abroad.
The “ugly-cute” dolls sparked a global craze two years ago, sending Pop Mart’s stock price up around tenfold. The mania helped China rise to second place in Brand Finance’s global soft power index, up from fifth at the start of the decade.
China’s rapidly expanding film industry has helped too. Domestically, however, Chinese consumers seem to be turning away from nationalistic tropes: While propaganda films made up more than 53% of ticket sales in China in 2020, that figure has plummeted to around 12% so far this year, The Economist reported.
