The Beanie Bubble

The Beanie Bubble is a 2023 American comedy-drama film directed by Kristin Gore and Damian Kulash Jr. from a screenplay by Gore, based on the 2015 book The Great Beanie Baby Bubble: Mass Delusion and the Dark Side of Cute by Zac Bissonnette about the Beanie Babies bubble. The film stars Zach Galifianakis, Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Snook, and Geraldine Viswanathan.

The Beanie Bubble was released in select cinemas on July 21, 2023, before its streaming release on July 28, 2023, by Apple TV+.

Plot
The film depicts the meteoric rise in popularity of the Beanie Babies and tells the story behind the toy obsession that took off in the 1990s. It follows toy manufacturer turned billionaire Ty Warner, and centers around the women who were integral to his success. Robbie, Sheila, and Maya help turn Beanie Babies into the coveted products they became. The women are based on three real women, Patricia Roche, Faith McGowan, and Lina Trivedi, each of whom played an integral role in the rising popularity of Beanie Babies.

Production
It was announced in January 2022 that Apple TV+ had acquired the distribution rights for the film, which would see Zach Galifinakis, Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Snook, and Geraldine Viswanathan star, with Kristin Gore and Damian Kulash directing.

Filming began by April 2022 in Marietta, Georgia. Production also took place in Atlanta.

The film features a new original track from the band OK Go, titled "This".

Reception
The New York Times critic Calum Marsh unfavorably compared The Beanie Bubble to other "corporate biopics" released in 2023, including Air and Tetris, and said that it "deploys every storytelling cliché in the book". Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian criticised the film's "deeply muddled non-storytelling and tonal blandness", and the Evening Standard Charlotte O'Sullivan said its "clichéd" script offers "a lazy take on power and greed". Digital Spy's Mireia Mullor called the film "understuffed" but said Geraldine Viswanathan's performance "steals the show".