With franchises being all the rage, some studios see opportunity in even the most unexpected sources. The LEGO Movie was released in 2014 and faced instant acclaim for its heartwarming story, unique animation style, and overall originality. With how popular the movie was upon release, a franchise was immediately launched. The ensuing films, shows, games, and more didn’t quite find the same level of popularity as the original film, however.
The LEGO Movie follows the story of Emmet Brickowski, a humble construction worker who stumbles across an evil plot to destroy the world he knows brick by brick. Beginning down this adventure, despite being told consistently that there’s nothing unique about him, Emmet comes to learn that there’s something inherent to all of us that makes us unique or special in our own way. The movie was first conceived of in 2008 and, following the success of the LEGO games, began production.
Leading Up To Release
Once production began, things really started to move on the project. Big-name stars such as Chris Pratt and Will Arnett were quickly cast to lend their voices to lead roles. When it came time to animate the characters, the studio put a lot of work into replicating Brickfilms: stop motion animated short films using LEGO bricks and figures. Animators often used LEGO’s online set builder to create the models for the movie before uploading them to their animation software. Extensive work was put into ensuring the bricks and characters had accurate details as though they were made with stop motion animation. Multiple real-life figurines and bricks were photoscanned in order to get tiny blemishes, such as fingerprints and paint chips, onto the 3D models.
Despite the extensive work put into the animation, the budget including advertising was only $100 million. The film was produced by Warner Animation Group, a new division of Warner Bros. Animation, and was their first film actually made. Alongside trailers, over twenty LEGO sets were made based on scenes from the movie. LEGO stores added character posters to purchases over a set limit, and fans were able to create LEGO versions of themselves online.
The Explosion of Popularity
The LEGO Movie was released and received almost universal acclaim. Many praised the animation work, many praised the fun story, while many others praised both. The movie presently sits at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. Many fans were initially cautious due to the movie seeming, on the surface, to be another attempt at selling LEGO sets. However, doubters were persuaded by the story that shares a good message about self-positivity as well as strengthening the bonds between parents and their children.
Ninjago And The Road to Downfall
The massive success of The LEGO Movie, and the many awards it had won, led to Warner Bros. pursuing franchising options almost immediately. In 2016, Legoland theme parks around the globe opened up 4D adventures based on the movie. In 2017, two planned spinoffs were released to far less acclaim. The LEGO Batman Movie saw moderately successful reviews, however, The LEGO Ninjago Movie received far more mixed reviews. Critics and fans alike felt as though a third film following a similar formula, using the format of LEGO bricks to make jokes, had marked the movies as becoming somewhat tired. Even though many were quick to point out that there were some entertaining moments, The LEGO Ninjago Movie didn’t quite click like the others. Franchise fatigue had begun to set in just three years after the first movie’s release.
A direct sequel was eventually greenlit with the main cast returning. The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part released in 2019, written by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, underwent multiple changes in producers, directors, and writers. The sequel had a similar marketing push as the first movie, and the studio even put the entirety of The LEGO Movie on Youtube for one day, including a trailer for the sequel at the end. Although it contained many of the same elements as the first, the sequel was ultimately a box office bomb. Many cited how similar the sequel was to the first movie, pointing to the marketing as making the sequel appear as though it would be derivative of the first.
Following the low returns of the sequel, making only $192 million on a $99 million budget, plans for further movies in the franchise were scrapped. Warner Bros. cut their losses and allowed their film rights to the LEGO brand to expire. LEGO then entered negotiations with Universal to make further films, and in April of 2020 they signed a 5-year film deal. It’s uncertain at this point if the future movies will be in the same universe or if they’ll “reboot” the franchise like many other franchise attempts have done. With the impact of COVID likely delaying production on any attempts to make a new LEGO movie, it will possibly be quite some time before audiences see the shiny plastic bricks on the silver screen again.