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LEGO ready for its big-screen close-up
By Steven Zeitchik and Borys Kit
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Warner Bros. is building a LEGO movie.
The studio and producer Dan Lin (Sherlock Holmes movie) have acquired theatrical
rights for a motion picture based on the timeless toy, and hired writers Dan and
Kevin Hageman to pen the script.
The live-action/CG-animated movie project is described as being set in the world
of LEGO. It will center on the idea of a child-like imagination and examine
themes of creativity and teamwork in the manner of “Toy Story.” The picture will
have elements for children, but the studio is hoping it also will play to
adults.
The LEGO development project continues what has been a veritable craze for
toy-based movies, a trend that flowered at the box office this past weekend with
the $56 million opening of “G.I. Joe,” the Hasbro toy that became a Paramount
hit, and has extended into lesser-known toys like the View-Master, which is
being developed as a feature at DreamWorks.
The Hagemans are set to adapt the ensemble monster movie “Hotel Transylvania”
for Sony and also are adapting the genre tale “Carpe Demon: Adventures of a
Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom” for Warner Bros.
LEGO began in the 1940s as a toy popular with Europeans and eventually proved
successful across the globe. The company, which remains a privately controlled
firm based in Billund, Denmark, has over the years maintained its core lines of
building blocks even as it has expanded into robots, space stations and other
theme-driven products.
The toy has always had a presence of sorts in and around Hollywood. A handful of
direct-to-DVD CGI pics have been distributed through the home-video arms of
companies such as Universal and Miramax, and it also has offered children’s
videogame tie-ins with high-profile features like “Star Wars.”
The only LEGOLAND in North America is in Carlsbad, Ca., south of Los Angeles.
But a big-screen feature has never been attempted.
Warners is keen on developing live-action/CG hybrids: it’s also behind a big
screen remake of “Yogi Bear” as well as a reboot of the Don Knotts mermaid movie
“The Incredible Mr. Limpet,” which live-action/CG expert Kevin Lima will direct.
(Editing by SheriLinden at Reuters)
Reuters.com
-end of report-
LEGO have only done direct-to-DVD animated fare that is based on the line of
Bionicle. Warner Bros. is revealing very little about the plot, but it is being
called “an action adventure set in a LEGO world.”
The development process has been happening for a year. The writers and the
producer have been going back and forth to Denmark, so they could work with LEGO
on the project. Who knows maybe a AFOL might be in the movie.
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