(Image credit: Funko)
One of the reasons I don’t find post-disaster games like The Division 2 or The Walking Dead very immersive is because their environments aren’t completely strewn with Pop! Vinyls. The ubiquity of these beady-eyed collectible figurines is alarming, and few branches of the mass market culture apparatus is untouched by them: there are Fortnite Pop! Vinyls, Marvel Pop! Vinyls, The Simpsons Pop! Vinyls, The Office Pop! Vinyls, Overwatch Pop! Vinyls. There are a lot of Pop! Vinyls.
But simply having a lot of physical Pop! Vinyls is not enough: according to a report in Deadline, Warner Bros has optioned the rights to a Funko film adaptation. It’s difficult to imagine the final form of this film, given that Funko Pops rely so heavily on licensed characters. But Warner Animation Group is going to develop and produce the film anyway, with director and designer Teddy Newton (Dexter’s Laboratory, Day & Night) as writer and Disney director Mark Dindal (Chicken Little, Cats Don’t Dance) as director.
Interestingly, Funko CEO Brian Mariotti reckons the eventual Funko movie “isn’t about selling toys or building a brand”.
“The team at Warner Animation Group have a unique vision of what the first film should be and we are extremely excited to take this journey alongside them,” he continued. Other Warner Animation Group films currently in production include Space Jam 2 and Tom & Jerry.
If all goes well, the Funko movie will rightfully take its place next to fellow bizarre 21st century film tie-ins like The Emoji Movie, Angry Birds and Battleship. Maybe it’ll be great? Maybe it’ll be a masterpiece? Maybe you’ll buy it on 4K Bluray and display it on your mantelpiece? Only time will tell.