Beanie Babies were one of the great fads of the 1990s, especially across the pond as collectors obsessed over sweet little fuzzy creatures. Prices soared, fights broke out over certain Beanies and a whole subculture was born. It's recently been chronicled in documentary Beanie Mania, but now a fictionalised film is on the way starring Zach Galifianakis, Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Snook and Geraldine Viswanathan.
Kristin Gore adapted the script from the book The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion And The Dark Side Of Cute, and will co-direct the eventual film with Damian Kulash. According to the producers, it pulls back the curtain on the absurdities and injustices of the American Dream — particularly the female relationship to it. It’s a celebration of the women who helped power businessman Ty Warner’s success, whose strengths and good instincts shaped and amplified the phenomenon, but whose names are not on the Beanie Babies’ heart-shaped tags.
It's the first film to emerge from Ron Howard and Brian Grazer's new deal between their Imagine Entertainment and Apple, so it may head to cinemas or end up going straight on to Apple TV+.