Beardless Zach Galifianakis isn't even the wildest thing in 'The Beanie Bubble' trailer

Yes, the '90s really were this weird.

By Caitlin Welsh on June 22, 2023

A man and a woman in 80s fashions sit in front of a desk.

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If you don't know the sound of a dial-up modem by heart, you might not remember the Beanie Babies craze. The collectible soft toys became a must-have item almost overnight thanks to the artificial scarcity of "limited editions", leading people to buy them up in the dozens or hundreds as an "investment". So basically NFTs, but less useless.

It was all the brainchild of toy salesman Ty Warner — or was it? The trailer for Apple TV+'s upcoming biopic The Beanie Bubble suggests that Warner (played by Zach Galifianakis) may have taken the lion's share of the limelight, without fully crediting the women who were key to his success (Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Snook, and Geraldine Viswanathan). It also promises glorious '80s and '90s fashions, toy truck explosions, and for anyone suffering Succession withdrawal, Snook in take-no-prisoners business mode.

The Beanie Bubble premieres in select theaters on July 21(opens in a new tab) and globally on Apple TV+ on July 28(opens in a new tab).

Caitlin Welsh

Caitlin is Mashable's Australian Editor. She has written for The Guardian, Junkee, and any number of plucky little music and culture publications that were run on the smell of an oily rag and have since been flushed off the Internet like a dead goldfish by their new owners. She also worked at Choice, Australia's consumer advocacy non-profit and magazine, and as such has surprisingly strong opinions about whitegoods. She enjoys big dumb action movies, big clever action movies, cult Canadian comedies set in small towns, Carly Rae Jepsen, The Replacements, smoky mezcal, revenge bedtime procrastination, and being left the hell alone when she's reading.