The Lego Batman Movie
The Lego Batman Movie is a 2017 animated superhero comedy film produced by Warner Animation Group, DC Entertainment, RatPac Entertainment, Lego System A/S, Lin Pictures, Lord Miller Productions, and Vertigo Entertainment, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was directed by Chris McKay (in his feature directorial debut) from a screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Jared Stern, and John Whittington. Based on the characters from the DC Universe created by DC Comics and the Lego DC Super Heroes' Batman toy line, the film is a collaboration between production houses from the United States, Australia, and Denmark, the first spin-off in The Lego Movie franchise and the second installment overall. The film features Will Arnett reprising his role as Batman from The Lego Movie alongside Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson, and Ralph Fiennes. The story follows the eponymous character (Arnett) as he attempts to overcome his greatest fear while saving Gotham City from the Joker's (Galifianakis) latest scheme.
For the Lego theme associated with this film, see The Lego Batman Movie (Lego theme). For the 2013 film, see Lego Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite.The Lego Batman Movie
Seth Grahame-Smith
- Lego Construction Toys
- Characters
from DC
- David Burrows
- Matt Villa
- John Venzon
104 minutes[4]
- Australia
- Denmark
- United States
English
$80 million[5]
$312 million[6]
Development of The Lego Batman Movie started in October 2014, after Warner Bros. announced several Lego films, following the critical and commercial success of The Lego Movie, while Chris McKay was hired to direct the film after being replaced by Rob Schrab to direct the sequel to The Lego Movie. He cited both The Naked Gun and Airplane! film series as his main inspirations. Casting call began in July to November 2015. The film pays homage to previous Batman films, cartoons, and comics. The film also features characters from other notable franchises and film series with them. Like The Lego Movie, the animation was provided by Animal Logic. Lorne Balfe composed the film's musical score.
The Lego Batman Movie had its world premiere in Dublin, Ireland on January 29, 2017,[3] and was released in the United States on February 10, 2017[7] in RealD 3D, Dolby Cinema, IMAX, IMAX 3D and 4DX formats. The film received generally positive reviews from critics for its animation, voice acting, music, visual style, and humor, and was also commercially successful, having grossed $312 million worldwide against a budget of around $80 million. A sequel, Lego Superfriends, was announced in 2018, but was cancelled after Universal Pictures acquired the Lego franchise rights.
Plot[edit]
Within the DC superhero dimension of the Lego multiverse, Batman protects Gotham City and fights crime. During his latest mission to stop the Joker and his team of villains from destroying the city, Batman succeeds, but also hurts the Joker's feelings by telling him he is not as important in his life as he thinks he is, leading the Joker to seek payback.
The following day, Batman's alter ego Bruce Wayne attends the city's winter gala, which is celebrating both the retirement of Police Commissioner Gordon and the ascension of his daughter Barbara to replace him. Wayne is smitten by Barbara, and this distraction results in him unwittingly agreeing to adopt the enthusiastic orphan Dick Grayson. Wayne is then infuriated by Barbara's plans to restructure the police to function without the need of Batman. The Joker crashes the party with his villain team. The Joker surrenders himself to police, while capturing almost all the villains for the police, except Harley Quinn. With so many villains incarcerated, Batman becomes despondent as Gotham no longer requires his crime-fighting skills.
Suspecting that the Joker is up to no good, Batman plans to steal Superman's Phantom Zone projector, a device that can banish anyone to the Phantom Zone, which houses some of the most dangerous criminals in the Lego multiverse, only for Alfred to intervene and advise him to take care of Dick. Batman initially refuses, so Alfred allows Dick to enter the Batcave. Appearing as Batman before Dick, Batman states that he is also adopting Dick, and fosters Dick as Robin to help in his scheme. Batman and Robin recover the projector from the Fortress of Solitude, break into Arkham Asylum and successfully send the Joker to the Phantom Zone. Suspecting that the Joker wanted to be sent there, Barbara locks up Batman and Robin.
While the projector is being seized as evidence, Harley steals it back as part of the Joker's plan, and frees him, allowing him to return to Gotham with all the multiverse's villains he had recruited in the Phantom Zone, including Sauron, who informs the Joker that Batman is Bruce Wayne (which the latter mistakes as the two being roommates). The criminals attack Gotham and take over Wayne Island. Realizing that Gotham does need Batman after all, Barbara releases Batman and Robin and teams up with them and Alfred to stop the new threat. Although his teammates achieve some success in fighting the multiverse's villains, Batman forcibly sends them away and confronts the Joker alone, fearing that he might lose them just like his parents.
Believing that Batman is incapable of changing his ways, the Joker sends him to the Phantom Zone before stealing the Batcave's stash of confiscated bombs to destroy Gotham. Meanwhile, Phyllis, the Phantom Zone's gatekeeper, shows Batman how he has mistreated Dick, Alfred, Barbara and the Joker. Batman accepts his greatest fear, being part of a family, and decides to change. Batman's teammates return to the fight to help him, but are endangered themselves. Batman makes a deal with Phyllis to temporarily return to Gotham to retrieve the Zone's escaped prisoners, and arrives in time to save his teammates, apologizing to them for leaving them and requesting their help to stop the Joker. They agree, with Barbara taking on the Batgirl costume.
With help from Joker's former team, who felt neglected by the Joker when he refused to break them out of Arkham, Batman and his team defeat the escaped multiverse's villains and send them back to the Phantom Zone. Unfortunately, the Joker's bombs detonate, causing Gotham to tear apart at the plates below the city. Batman convinces Joker to help him by telling him he gives him purpose to be the hero he is, and with the help of every civilian and villain, they manage to save Gotham, chain-linking themselves together to reattach the plates.
In the aftermath, Batman reveals to Dick that he is Wayne in disguise, then goes to return to the Phantom Zone to face the consequences of his earlier behavior. Phyllis prevents Batman from entering the Phantom Zone, after realizing he is a hero and seeing how he changed to save everyone. Afterward, Batman gives the Joker and the rest of the villains a headstart, knowing they will be no match for the Bat-family. The last scenes of the movie are the Bat-family spending time together.
Several actors voice the various villains from Batman's rogues gallery, including Billy Dee Williams as Two-Face (as a nod to his role as Harvey Dent, Two-Face's former identity, in the 1989 Batman film),[19][20] Riki Lindhome as Poison Ivy, Conan O'Brien as Riddler, Jason Mantzoukas as the Scarecrow, Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman (she would later portray Catwoman in The Batman), Matt Villa as Killer Croc, Kate Micucci as Clayface, Doug Benson as Bane (the character's appearance and Benson's performance are meant to satirize Tom Hardy's portrayal of Bane in The Dark Knight Rises), John Venzon as Penguin (the character's appearance is a nod to Danny DeVito's portrayal of Penguin in Batman Returns), David Burrows as Mr. Freeze (Burrows also voices an anchorman), and Laura Kightlinger as Orca (Kightlinger also voices a reporter). The film also features villains from other franchises, including Sauron's Eye of Sauron from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit (voiced by Jemaine Clement), the Wicked Witch of the West from The Wizard of Oz (also voiced by Riki Lindhome), Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter (voiced by Eddie Izzard), King Kong from King Kong, the Swamp Creature from various monster films (both voiced by Seth Green), Medusa from Greek mythology (also voiced by Lauren White),[18] and the Daleks from Doctor Who (voiced by Nicholas Briggs, reprising his role from the television series).
The voice of the Batcomputer (credited as 'Puter), depicted here as an artificial intelligence controlling all of Batman's gadgets and vehicles, is done by Siri.[21]
Archive footage of Tom Cruise and Renée Zellweger from Jerry Maguire is used.
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
The Lego Batman Movie grossed $175.8 million in the United States and Canada and $136.2 million in other territories for a worldwide gross of $312 million, against a production budget of $80 million.[6]
In the United States and Canada, The Lego Batman Movie opened alongside two other sequels, Fifty Shades Darker and John Wick: Chapter 2, and was projected to gross around $60 million from 4,088 theaters in its opening weekend.[61] It earned $2.2 million from Thursday-night previews and $14.5 million on Friday.[62] It went on to open with $53 million, finishing first at the box office.[63] In its second weekend, the film grossed $32.7 million (a small drop of 38.4%), again topping the box office;[64][65] with the additional President's Day holiday on Monday, it made a total of $42.7 million for the weekend.[66] In its third weekend of release, the film dropped to second at the box office, behind newcomer Get Out, grossing $19.2 million (a drop of 41.2%).[67]
Outside North America, the film was simultaneously released in 61 countries, and was expected to gross around $40 million over its first three days.[61] It ended up grossing $37 million in its opening weekend, including $9.3 million in the United Kingdom, $2.6 million in Mexico, $2.3 million in Germany and $2.2 million in Russia.[68] In the United Kingdom, the film topped the box office for three weeks until it was dethroned by Logan in its fourth weekend.[69]
Critical response[edit]
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 90% based on 315 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "The Lego Batman Movie continues its block-buster franchise's winning streak with another round of dizzyingly funny—and beautifully animated—family-friendly mayhem."[70] It was ranked the 23rd best superhero movie of all time on the site.[71] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 75 out of 100, based on 48 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[72] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[73]
Mike Ryan of Uproxx gave the film a positive review, praising its comedy, and saying: "The LEGO Batman Movie isn't the same experience as watching The LEGO Movie, but I also don't think it's trying to be. It's trying to be a fun superhero movie with clever callbacks to previous Batman films (every single Batman movie all the way back to the 1940s serials are referenced) that can, at least, provide DC superhero fans with a taste of fun amidst all the doom and gloom. (That can either be a reference to 'the real world' or the current DC Cinematic Universe films, you can choose either one you want or both.) And at that, The LEGO Batman Movie succeeds."[74] Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "B+" and wrote, "LEGO Batman revs so fast and moves so frenetically that it becomes a little exhausting by the end. It flirts with being too much of a good thing. But rarely has corporate brainwashing been so much fun and gone down with such a delightful aftertaste."[75] Justin Chang of the Los Angeles Times was positive in his review, saying, "In its best moments, this gag-a-minute Bat-roast serves as a reminder that, in the right hands, a sharp comic scalpel can be an instrument of revelation as well as ridicule."[76] Michael O'Sullivan of The Washington Post praised the film for its heart, humor, and action which "snap together, with a satisfying click."[77]
Cancelled sequel[edit]
On December 5, 2018, McKay announced a sequel to the film was in the works, with him returning to direct.[109] The film was set for release in 2022.[110] However, following the box office underperformance of The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part in 2019, Universal Pictures acquired the film rights to The Lego Movie franchise in 2020, effectively cancelling the sequel due to the rights of DC Comics being owned by Warner Bros.[111][112][113]
In June 2021, McKay revealed that the script was being written by Michael Waldron and Dan Harmon. It would have focused on Batman's relationship with the Justice League, particularly Superman, and the main villains would have been Lex Luthor and OMAC.[114] Waldron revealed that the film was tentatively titled Lego Superfriends.[115]