Chia Pet Is Sprouting an Animated Movie or TV Franchise
If you grew up in the ’80s or ’90s, your brain probably auto-played a familiar jingle the second you read this headline. “Ch-ch-ch-chia!” That ridiculous little clay planter that sprouted green fuzz and lived on TV infomercials longer than most sitcoms is officially heading for the big screen.
Rakia Media has picked up the media rights to Chia Pet, with plans to turn the brand into animated movies or TV shows. Yes, that Chia Pet. The same one your aunt gifted you as a joke and forgot about a week later.
Producer-writer Adam Jay Epstein is part of the team that secured the rights, and he sounds genuinely pumped about it.
“Chia Pets have been featured on our shelves since childhood, and we’re thrilled to help grow the brand to new heights,” Epstein said. “We can’t wait for audiences to check out the world of Chia in theaters and screens across the world.”
Epstein is joined by producers Ari Daniel Pinchot and Jonathan Rubenstein, all working under Rakia Media’s film and TV banner, Crystal City Entertainment. The rights come from Ad Populum, a company with a deep bench of pop culture and retail properties including NECA, Kidrobot, Party City, and even Graceland.
“For over 40 years, Chia Pet has remained one of the most recognizable brand icons in pop culture history,” said Ad Populum CEO Joel Weinshanker. “I’m excited to work with a team that understands both its legacy and its potential for the future.”
That all sounds confident and polished, but it also raises a pretty obvious question. What exactly is a Chia Pet movie or TV show supposed to be? These things come in every shape imaginable, from generic animals to licensed characters from movies and TV shows. There are a ton of them and the official site looks like a pop culture yard sale.
So what’s the play here? A full-on Chia universe where iconic planters come to life? A kid-friendly animated comedy? Some wild crossover chaos? And will anyone under the age of 25 care at all about this?
Right now, there are zero answers. But it’s worth remembering that plenty of people rolled their eyes when Warner Bros. announced a Barbie movie, and that turned into a massive hit. Hollywood has a habit of pulling strange ideas out of storage and occasionally striking gold.
Still, this feels like the industry digging deep and finding something truly unexpected at the bottom of the IP discount bin. Turning a novelty planter into a narrative franchise is a wild swing. I’m curious to see how this turns out, but I’m expecting it to be a stupid as it sounds.