LEGO may be coming out with brand new movies in The LEGO Movie franchise, but not from Warner Bros. as the company is currently in talks with Universal. The LEGO Movie franchise is the immensely popular animated series of movies focused on LEGO characters. While LEGO-based movies have existed since the Bionicle days in the early 2000s, LEGO began to make movies with Warner Bros. in the 2010s. The first few Warner Bros. LEGO movies were successful, but it skyrocketed in acclaim and popularity in 2014 with the release of The LEGO Movie.
The LEGO Movie was an instant hit, with both critics and viewers alike. "Certified Fresh" with its current Rotten Tomatoes score of 96 percent, the movie featured beautiful animation, a fantastic plot, an all-star voice cast, and humor for viewers of all ages. It spawned a franchise of new LEGO movies that included spinoffs, such as The LEGO Batman Movie and The LEGO Ninjago Movie, which came out in 2017. In 2019, The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part was released, with actors Chris Pratt, Will Arnett, and Elizabeth Banks reprising their voice roles for the sequel film.
According to THR, LEGO is currently in talks with Universal for a new, exclusive partnership that may lead to the studio creating new movies based on LEGOs. This past fall, the partnership with Warner Bros. expired. While the previously mentioned Batman spinoff was a success, The Ninjago Movie and LEGO Movie: The Second Part were failures, which caused Warner Bros. to rethink their initial agreement with LEGO.
According to THR's sources, there have already been several studios that have reached out to LEGO to try to strike a deal, to fill the gap that Warner Bros. is leaving. While there may be a studio change happening, the producer from the previous LEGO films, Dan Lin, is in talks to stay on future projects even if a new deal is struck. Lin is also responsible for producing the live-action adaptation of Aladdin. With Lin will also come his production company, Rideback.
Universal has had several successful animated feature films over the past decade, which include the extremely popular Minions and Despicable Me franchises under their Illumination arm. Recent releases also include The Secret Life of Pets 2 (2019) and How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019). Despite this, it's never a bad idea to have more animated movies on the roster. Especially one from such a recognizable and established brand like LEGO, which has already proven the popularity of its brands through movies and video games in addition to the classic toy line. There's even a LEGO Movie World. When there are companies like Disney buying up recognizable brand after brand, it's important to have one of their own in their back pocket. Until then, fans will be waiting eagerly for the next chapter in The LEGO Movie film franchise.
Source: THR