Movie lovers: be afraid…be very afraid.

Unless you are the type of movie lover that truly appreciates movies with schlocky premises, terrible acting, worse special effects, and blatant product placement. If that’s you, rejoice, because on Friday we learned that not only was a Sharknado prequel in the works at The Asylum, but Sony Pictures was developing a movie about the stuffed toy, um, phenomenon, that is Labubu.

The Sharknado Cinematic Universe is getting revived with Sharknado: Origins, which could be out next summer. The movie sports a logline that completely upends the franchise’s tenuous continuity, which really shouldn’t matter when previous films have attempted to break our brains with scenes of sharks in space and traveling through time.

Sharknado: Origins will “introduce audiences to a teenage Fin and April. The two cross paths during a perfect beach summer, where sparks immediately fly. But just as Fin is about to seal the moment with a promise ring, the sky darkens, a massive funnel cloud forms, and sharks dramatically erupt from the ocean,” according to the movie’s official description.

I guess Fin and April got amnesia between their teenage years and their alleged first experience with a sharknado in 2013 when the first movie came out. Or perhaps they were just pretending to be surprised by the fishy weather anomaly…who knows.

At any rate, Sharknado: Origins will join the other classics, like 2014’s Sharknado 2: The Second One, 2015’s Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!, 2016’s Sharknado: The 4th Awakens, 2017’s Sharknado 5: Global Swarming, and what was previously the last film in the series, 2018’s The Last Sharknado: It’s About Time. All of the previous movies debuted on the Syfy Channel, but as of right now it’s not known how the prequel will be released, nor is there casting information available. Stay tuned!

In other news, Sony Pictures is jumping on the make-a-movie-about-a-toy-fad train, signing a deal with with toy manufacturer Pop Mart for the rights to trending toy sensation Labubu. If you don’t know what a Labubu is, I’ll tell you what I just this minute found out.

Designed by artist Kasing Lung and initially made by How2 Work, Labubu is (are?) a line of plush monster figurines that are now manufactured by Chinese retailer Pop Mart. Recently they became the toy to have among the youth, and perhaps some of the older folks too, to the point where the phenomenon got the South Park treatment, getting lampooned on a recent episode.

Of the film’s plot, virtually nothing is known, but the toys do have their own backstory as their creator was inspired by Nordic mythology and wrote a book called Monsters (now out of print) that introduced the creatures.

Whether the toy’s popularity is waxing or waning by the time the movie finally sees daylight is anyone’s guess, but the making-a-movie-about-a-toy-fad seems like it will be with us for a long time.