Labubu toys, the grinning fuzzy trinkets that became a global sensation last year, are going to be the stars of a Hollywood movie, joining a growing list of beloved characters to jump from store shelves to the big screen. (Hi, Barbie!)

咧嘴而笑的毛绒小玩偶Labubu去年火遍全球，如今即将成为好莱坞电影的主角，加入从货架走向大银幕的人气角色大军。（没错，就是芭比！）

Sony and the Chinese retailer Pop Mart, which exclusively sells the dolls, announced on Thursday that they were developing a Labubu feature film. Paul King, the British screenwriter and director behind “Paddington” and “Wonka,” will produce and direct the film, according to a statement from the companies. King will collaborate with Steven Levenson, who wrote the book for the musical “Dear Evan Hansen,” on the screenplay.

索尼影业与该玩偶独家发售方、中国零售商泡泡玛特于周四宣布，双方正在开发一部Labubu长片。两家公司发布的声明显示，曾执导《帕丁顿熊》(Paddington)和《旺卡》(Wonka)的英国编剧兼导演保罗·金将担任本片的制片人与导演，并与音乐剧《致埃文·汉森》(Dear Evan Hansen)的剧本创作者史蒂文·莱文森合作撰写电影剧本。

The announcement offered few details and did not give a release date. But the film will become the latest to turn beloved toys into the stars of a major movie, along with Barbie, Lego, the Transformers and others.

此次官宣披露的细节极少，也未公布上映日期。但这部影片将成为继芭比、乐高和变形金刚等作之后，又一部将人气潮玩打造成商业大片主角的作品。

The close link between movies and merchandising is often traced back to the immense success of the original “Star Wars” trilogy in the late 1970s and early ’80s, intellectual property experts said.

知识产权领域专家表示，电影与衍生品商业的深度绑定，通常可追溯至上世纪70年代末至80年代初《星球大战》(Star Wars)正传三部曲的巨大成功。

“It took seriously the idea of your intellectual property being commercialized on quite a few different channels,” Emily Hudson, a professor of law at the University of Oxford, said of “Star Wars.”

牛津大学法学教授埃米莉·哈德森谈及《星球大战》时表示：“这部作品真正践行了一套理念，让知识产权在多个不同渠道实现商业化落地。”

But whereas “Star Wars” started as a movie and became a major merchandising success, that model has been inverted lately.

但《星球大战》是先有电影，再有周边衍生品的大获成功，而近年来，这套模式被反转了。

“Now you come up first with the merchandise and then you retrofit some sort of cinematic universe or some television show around the toys,” said Luke McDonagh, a professor at the London School of Economics who researches intellectual property law.

伦敦政治经济学院知识产权法研究教授卢克·麦克多纳说：“现在是先打造出周边商品，再围绕这些玩具构建一套电影宇宙或者电视剧集。”

That strategy has paid huge dividends. “The Lego Movie,” made by Warner Bros. and the Lego Group, took in nearly $500 million at the global box office in 2014, and was followed by a sequel and two spinoffs. Paramount Pictures and Hasbro have turned the Transformers action-figure line into a $5 billion big-screen franchise.

这套策略已带来了巨额回报。华纳兄弟与乐高集团联合制作的《乐高大电影》(The Lego Movie)2014年全球票房近5亿美元，后续还推出了一部续集与两部衍生片。派拉蒙影业与孩之宝则将变形金刚动作玩具系列打造成了票房累计50亿美元的大银幕系列。

The toy company Mattel has moved to turn its brands into full-fledged entertainment brands, including “Barbie,” the live-action adventure starring Margot Robbie that earned nearly $1.5 billion. A “Polly Pocket” movie, co-produced by Reese Witherspoon’s production company, is in the works.

玩具公司美泰已着手将旗下品牌打造为成熟的娱乐品牌，其中就包括玛格特·罗比主演、斩获近15亿美元票房的真人冒险电影《芭比》(Barbie)。由瑞茜·威瑟斯彭的制片公司联合出品的《波利口袋》(Polly Pocket)电影也已在筹备中。

导演保罗·金与Labubu的创作者龙家升。

“Characters are now the most valuable kind of intellectual property,” said Dev Gangjee, a professor of intellectual property law at the University of Oxford. “They straddle all these formats.”

牛津大学知识产权法教授戴夫·甘吉说：“角色是目前最具价值的知识产权类型，它们能横跨所有内容形态。”

The commercial successes and the critical acclaim of many of these movies have changed the dynamics of how these kinds of projects are perceived.

许多这类影片叫好又叫座，也彻底改变了人们对这类项目的认知。

“‘The Lego Movie’ helped break the mold,” Dr. McDonagh said, partly because the toys were already well-loved and well-known among multiple generations.

麦克多纳表示：“《乐高大电影》打破了固有看法，一部分原因在于，这款玩具早已为几代人喜爱和熟知。”

“It established the principle that you could do something that’s so incredibly commercially minded,” he said. “In another era it would have been seen as selling out.”

“它确立了一个准则：你可以做一个商业属性极强的作品。放在过去，这种做法会被视为出卖原则。”

There is also a certain safety for movie executives in creating films about characters that already have a sizable following, Dr. McDonagh said. “These Labubu dolls have been such a success among a certain demographic of children and young adults, they know there’s an audience out there for content related to these dolls,” he said.

麦克多纳博士称，对于片方高管而言，围绕已经拥有庞大粉丝基础的角色拍电影，本身也具备一定的安全性。“Labubu玩偶在特定的儿童与年轻人群体中已经大获成功，片方清楚，和这些玩偶相关的内容存在受众基础。”

As collectors around the world know, Labubu dolls are fuzzy little Nordic elves with snaggletoothed, mischievous grins and impish ears. They’re female and kindhearted. Sometimes they get into trouble. The dolls belong to a tribe called the Monsters.

全球的收藏者都熟知，Labubu是一群毛茸茸的北欧小精灵，一口龅牙、挂着调皮的坏笑，还有一对精灵耳。它们是女性，心地善良，偶尔会惹点小麻烦，隶属于名为“精灵天团”的家族。

Labubus were conceived as characters in a children’s book series in 2015 by Kasing Lung, an artist who was born in Hong Kong. In 2019, Mr. Lung signed a partnership with Pop Mart to turn the storybook elves into collectible designer toys, starting with a line of figurines.

Labubu是香港出生的艺术家龙家升在2015年的一套儿童绘本系列中创造的角色。2019年，龙家升与泡泡玛特达成合作，将绘本里的小精灵打造成可收藏的设计师潮玩，首款产品是一系列手办。

The dolls quickly became a major hit, driving Pop Mart’s stocks to soar. Each time a new doll has been released, it has sold out online within minutes.

这款玩偶迅速爆红，带动泡泡玛特股价暴涨。每一次新款发售，线上都会在几分钟内售罄。

Communities have evolved around the toothy elves, which have been spotted dangling off luxury handbags and count Rihanna, Dua Lipa and Naomi Osaka as fans.

围绕这个露着牙齿的小精灵，已经形成了一系列粉丝社群，常常可以看到它被挂在奢品手袋上，蕾哈娜、杜阿·利帕、大坂直美等名人都是它的粉丝。

去年9月的美网公开赛，大坂直美的包上挂着一个Labubu玩偶。

A successful movie could add more legitimacy and popularity to the toys, Dr. McDonagh said. “The idea of a Labubu movie seems like a joke right now, but maybe it will be a creative triumph.”

麦克多纳表示，一部成功的电影，能让这款潮玩获得更高的认可度与人气。“目前Labubu电影这个想法听起来有点像个玩笑，但它或许会成为一次创意上的胜利。”

The endeavor is not entirely risk-free, experts said: If the movie is a flop, it could hurt sales and have the opposite effect. “Super Mario Bros.,” a 1993 movie about the popular video game, or the 2007 film “Bratz: The Movie” are examples. (A more recent film, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” earned more than $1.3 billion worldwide in 2023.)

专家也表示，这次尝试并非全无风险：如果电影搞砸了，可能会反噬产品销量，起到反效果。1993年改编自热门游戏的《超级马里奥兄弟》(Super Mario Bros.)真人电影、2007年的《布拉茨娃娃电影》(Bratz: The Movie)，都是例证——而2023年的新版《超级马里奥兄弟大电影》(The Super Mario Bros. Movie)，全球票房突破13亿美元。

The creation of a Labubu movie is clearly meant at least in part to be a commercial boost for the toy, intellectual property experts said.

知识产权领域专家称，打造Labubu电影，显然至少在一定程度上是为了给该玩具带来商业上的提振。

“It’s completely ruthless marketing, no question about that,” Dr. McDonagh said. But, he added: “If you get the creative work right, audiences are willing to look past that. They’re willing to go along with a good movie.”

“这是彻头彻尾的商业营销，这一点毋庸置疑，”麦克多纳说。但他补充说：“只要创作内容足够出色，观众愿意忽略这一点，他们愿意接受一部好电影。”