Jason Segel Is Working on a ‘Lego Movie’ Spinoff
The LEGO Movie proved audiences’ appetite for charming, mildly subversive animated movies about talking toys. Now Warner Bros. is testing that appetite with a whole line of LEGO movies. There already announced Ninjago film in 2016, a Lego Batman Movie in 2017, and The Lego Movie 2 in 2018. Per The Hollywood Reporter, that onslaught will also includes a fourth film, a LEGO spinoff titled The Billion Brick Race, which will be co-written and directed by Forgetting Sarah Marshall and The Muppets’ Jason Segel.
The project originated with Iron Man 3 screenwriter Drew Pearce, who will write and direct the film with Segel. Though THR offered not plot details on Billion Brick Race, they claimed that Pearce pitched the idea to Warners (and the Lego Movie “brain trust” of directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller, along with Dan Lin and Roy Lee), who got very “excited” at whatever it is Pearce and Segel have in mind.
The Billion Brick Race is in “the early stages of development,” so don’t expect to see it before any of the many other LEGO spinoffs Warners already has in the pipeline. The LEGO Movie was a genuinely pleasant surprise, but the question now becomes just how far the franchise can be extended before people stop being pleasantly surprised and start feeling like they’re paying to watch some very long toy commercials. Pearce and Segel are sharp, talented guys, so one hopes they’ve got a unique spin to put on the material (or can at least figure out a way to get the LEGO DeLorean involved).
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