The Lego Movie (franchise)
The Lego Movie is an American media franchise based on Lego construction toys. It began with the 2014 film The Lego Movie, which was directed and written by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. The success of the film led to the release of two licensed video games, a 4D film theme park attraction, two spin-off films titled The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Ninjago Movie, which were released in 2017, Unikitty! an animated television series that also came out in the same year, and the sequel to the original film titled The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part in 2019. Plans for a third spin-off film and a sequel to The Lego Batman Movie were later shelved.
The Lego Movie
The Lego Movie (2014)
- The Lego Group
- Warner Bros. (2014–2020)
- Universal Pictures (2020–present)
2014–present
- The Lego Movie (2014)
- The Lego Batman Movie (2017)
- The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017)
- The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)
Unikitty! (2017–2020)
- The Lego Movie Videogame (2014)
- The Lego Batman Movie Game (2017)
- The Lego Ninjago Movie Video Game (2017)
- The Lego Movie 2 Videogame (2019)
The franchise has received a generally positive critical reception, with the exception of The Lego Ninjago Movie which received mixed reviews, and has grossed $1 billion at the worldwide box office. While Warner Bros. still owned the rights to their run of the franchise from 2014 to 2020, including the Unikitty! animated television series, Universal Pictures bought the rights to make plans for an upcoming Lego Movie as part of a 5-year deal following the termination of Warner Bros.' film rights with Lego at the end of 2019.
Cancelled films[edit]
The Billion Brick Race[edit]
In March 2015, Warner Bros. announced that a third Lego Movie spin-off, titled The Billion Brick Race, was in development. By July 2016, Jason Segel and Drew Pearce signed onto the project as co-directors and co-writers.[31][32][33] In August 2017, it was announced that Jorge R. Gutierrez was hired to replace them as its sole writer and director. At that time, the film was scheduled to be released on May 24, 2019 (The day Aladdin was released).[34]
By February 2018, Gutierrez had left the project declaring it a failure.[35] In July 2018, the film's plot was announced by Pearce to be a Lego racing movie, inspired by pre-existing racing films, including The Cannonball Run.[36]
In December 2019, concept art of the film's main characters was revealed by the film's initial director Jorge R. Gutierrez, along with the confirmation that he had permanently cancelled the project. The poor box office results of The Lego Ninjago Movie and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part, along with the film's lengthy conceptual phase, were given as the primary reasons.[37][38]
In July 2022, Gutierrez stated on Twitter that he intended for the film's two leads to be voiced by Diego Luna and Emma Stone. The film was also going to include elements of time travel as well as an appearance by the creator of Lego, Ole Kirk Kristiansen.[39]
Lego Superfriends[edit]
In December 2018, Chris McKay confirmed that a sequel to The Lego Batman Movie was in development, with him returning to direct. The film was set for a release in 2022.[40] However, while the rights of DC Comics are owned by Warner Bros., the sequel was cancelled due to Warner Bros. losing the Lego film rights after The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part underperformed at the box office, with Universal signing a deal as the distributors for future Lego films.[41]
In June 2021, McKay revealed that the script was being written by Michael Waldron and Dan Harmon, and was stated to have taken notes from The Godfather Part II as well as Boogie Nights. The film would have focused on Batman's relationship with the Justice League, particularly Superman, and the main antagonists would have been Lex Luthor and OMAC.[42] The film was tentatively titled Lego Superfriends.[43]
Future[edit]
Universal Pictures era[edit]
In December 2019, Universal Pictures entered early negotiations to distribute upcoming feature film properties based on the Lego toys. Although Universal will develop and distribute future Lego films, the original Lego Movie characters and films are still owned by Warner Bros. In April 2020, the deal with Universal was set for a limited 5-year film deal with Warner Bros. still owning the previous films.[44]
Untitled Lego Movie film[edit]
On August 5, 2022, in a podcast interview with The Ankler, Dan Lin revealed that a new Lego Movie film in the series is in development, saying "We know we have to switch it up and take to a different art form that's still true to LEGO." Lin promised that the creative team had "reinvented" the LEGO world for the film, but it does not yet have a release date.[45][46] By July 2023, it was announced that Aaron and Adam Nee were attached to direct the film.[47][48]
Cancelled shorts[edit]
Two additional shorts for theatrical distribution were in production alongside The Master in 2016: Contagious directed by Patrick Osbourne, and Emmet Amuck directed by Jon Saunders and Ross Evans. Both ultimately went unreleased.[62][63][64]