First The Beanie Bubble Trailer Features Zero Actual Beanie Babies

The last year has seen Hollywood reveling in the odd trend of corporation-feting biopics, films that have included Air, Tetris and most recently Flamin’ Hot, each claiming to celebrate the story of dreamers in corporate culture who ultimately created lasting or iconic products. What else do they all share in common? Well, they each had the right to depict the thing the story is about, for one. Apple TV+’s The Beanie Bubble, on the other hand? Welcome to the concept of a corporate biopic about Beanie Babies, that apparently has zero Beanie Babies in it. Would one not have expected “the right to portray Beanie Babies” as being an absolutely essential thing to acquire, in the course of making a Beanie Baby movie? Is it just me, thinking this? The trailer below has me questioning my sanity.

According to star and recent Cocaine Bear director Elizabeth Banks, the film simply didn’t have the rights to the Beanie Baby IP, which resulted in the production crew needing to create their own stuffed animals for the film, none of which happen to look particularly like the Beanie Babies we all remember from the 1990s. The Beanie Bubble is instead based on 2015 book The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute by Zac Bissonnette. A beardless and almost unrecognizable Zach Galifianakis takes on the central role of toy manufacturer H. Ty Warner, who became a billionaire in only a few years as a result of the overnight Beanie Baby sensation. He’s joined by Banks as his business partner and Succession‘s Sarah Snook as wife Sheila Warner, along with Miracle Workers actress Geraldine Viswanathan as a young employee who senses the bottom preparing to fall out on the Beanie Baby fad.

The Beanie Bubble is co-directed by husband and wife Kristin Gore (daughter of Al Gore) and Damian Kulash, the lead singer of pop band OK Go, with Gore making her directorial debut. It will actually be the first live-action film role for Galifianakis since 2019, as the prolific comedian has largely been working in the voice-acting world. Apparently, fake Beanie Babies were the irresistible concept that drew him back to the big screen? Regardless, the film is scheduled to hit select theaters on July 21, 2023, followed by a streaming premiere on Apple TV+ on July 28. Check out the colorful trailer and its disturbing lack of Beanie Babies below.