I was a fan of The Lego Movie earlier this year, and it’s safe to say most audiences were, too. The film arrived in the February doldrums and surprised pretty much everybody in the moviegoing community en route to grossing $468 million at the worldwide box office. If you asked me to name my favorite thing about the movie, aside from its production design, I’d probably say Batman’s comic relief, and I think others would answer similarly, so it makes sense Warner Bros. has now put a Lego Batman spinoff on the fast track.
It was announced in March that a sequel to The Lego Movie was in the works, with animation co-director and supervisor Chris McKay attached to direct and Warner eyeing a May 26, 2017 release date. However it now seems this Lego Batman spinoff is the studio’s first priority in the Lego Cinematic Universe (boy, I hope that doesn’t catch on), as The Hollywood Reporter thinks The Lego Movie 2 will be pushed to a later date and this spinoff will take its May 2017 slot.
I’m of a couple different minds on this: first, as I said, I liked The Lego Movie and had a great time with it in the theater. Further, the world built by Phil Lord and Chris Miller felt very organic, so a sequel or spinoff doesn’t necessarily make me run for the hills. But what exactly will a Lego Batman movie look like, and what will the story be? I assume the film will remain fun and self-referential, but as we saw with 22 Jump Street, meta-awareness can get old fast.
I don’t doubt that Lego Batman, who will again be voiced by Will Arnett, is a popular enough character to carry his own film, as he stole a number of scenes in The Lego Movie, but I wonder if his “inept superhero” shtick will grow tiresome when he becomes the central focus of the movie instead of a supporting character. Either way, it looks like we are going to find out in 2017. [The Hollywood Reporter]
