Warner Bros. Fast-Tracks ‘Lego Batman’ Spinoff From ‘The Lego Movie’
“Darkness! No parents! The opposite of light!” People liked the Lego version of Batman so much inThe Lego Moviethat Warner Bros. has fast-tracked development on aLego Batmanspinoff movie.
In fact, while WB still plans to makeThe Lego Movie 2eventually, this Batman spinoff is basically taking its place.Chris McKay, who acted as animation supervisor onLego Movie, will now direct theLego Batmanmovie, from a script bySeth Grahame-Smith.
THRreports thatWill Arnettwill voice the character once again. Lego producersRoy Lee, Dan Lin, Phil LordandChristopher Millerwill act as producers on this spinoff, essentially porting over their roles from the Lego sequel.
Millertweetedthe best photo:
Lego Batmanis set for release in 2017 — it takes time to animate these films! — and THR says it could even adopt the July 19, 2025 date originally set for theLego Moviesequel. In the meantime, the Lego movieNinjagois still set for Sept. 23, 2016.The Lego Movie 2, assuming it still happens, will come around sometime afterLego Batmanopens.
Batman was one of the highlights ofThe Lego Movie, in part because of Arnett’s pitch-perfect performance, and in part because of a script that knew just how and when to deploy him. That raises a question, of course: will the Lego Batman be just as entertaining when he’s the center of a film rather than an accent? If it’s as smart as what we saw in his first appearance then the answer is almost certainly yes.
Regardless, it’s good to see WB taking the character lightly. As much as we’ve enjoyed Christopher Nolan’s take on Batman, it’s hard to argue with the entertainment value of this incarnation. There’s a lot to play with here, and Lord, McKay and Miller set up a great tone and direction withThe Lego Movie.
