When Oscar nominations for this year's Best Animation Feature were announced on Thursday, the film about the beloved toys was nowhere to be found. That's ridiculous," tweeted Steven Zeitchik, Entertainment Writer for the Los Angeles Times. He's got a point. "The Lego Movie," while being a goofy animated movie (and some would say advertisement) about legos, was one of the year's biggest box office hits. It also won over a lot of movie goers and critics. The film grossed $257 million and holds a 96% fresh rating on movie review site Rotten Tomatoes. Not only does the film have a bigger box office total than the whole Best Picture nominee slate combined, it has a higher review score than last year's Best Animated Feature winner, "Frozen." The films that were nominated over "Lego Movie" were "Big Hero 6," "The Boxtrolls," "How to Train Your Dragon 2," "Song of the Sea," and "The Tale of The Princess Kaguya." The semi-outrage on social media was almost immediate. "I do think some of the Academy voters have Legos for brains in that the Lego Movie wasn't nominated for Best Animated Film," tweeted "Guardians of the Galaxy" director James Gunn.
Yet, the creators of the film took the snub in stride. "This is not a tragedy," one of the film's directors, Philip Lord, wrote on Twitter. "Congrats to incredible crew and cast of The Lego Movie, who made a classic." Lord also tweeted out a photo of a Lego Oscar statue saying, "It's okay. The movie did not go without any nominations, however. The film's original song, "Everything is Awesome," earned a nod for Best Song. The Oscars will be shown on ABC on February 22. Here you will find news, reviews and discussions related to The LEGO Movie. How well do you know one of 2014’s most beloved films? Probably not that well. Below are 28 facts about the movie that you may not have known, and they’ll help you realize just how awesome everything really is. 1. Even though he’s the King of Voiceovers, this is Morgan Freeman’s first animated film. 2. It’s Wonder Woman’s first theatrical appearance in a feature length film. 3. And, even though he didn’t have a speaking role, The Flash’s cameo marks his first theatrical appearance as well.
4. It’s also the first time Batman and Superman have ever been in the same film together. 5. Vitruvius’ staff is a chewed up lollipop stick. Warner Bros. Pictures via Everett Collection In most cases, a lollipop stick will fit perfectly into a figure’s hand. 6. President Business’ company is Octan Corporation, LEGO’s fictional gas company that first appeared in 1992. 7. Benny, the “1980-something space guy,” has a broken helmet chin strap, which was an extremely common defect for his line of figures at the time. 8. Vitruvius, when broken down etymologically, comes from the Greek words for “master” and “builder.” 9. And, in fact, Vitruvius was a Roman author and architect in 1st century BC. He’s best known for his multi-volume De Architectura. 10. In Emmet’s apartment there’s a poster for a movie called Macho and the Nerd, the Russian title for Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s 21 Jump Street (believe it or not).
11. The only LEGOs in the film that aren’t computer-generated are the title cards (including “5 hours later”), some of the backgrounds, and the end credits. 12. When arriving in Cloud Cuckoo Land, Batman is extremely grumpy. It makes sense, since he’s greeted by two of his greatest foes. The clown represents The Joker and the diosaur/lizard man represents Killer Croc. 13. The film is a bit of a 21 Jump Street reunion for the directors, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, as well as the stars: Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Nick Offerman, and Dave Franco. Tatum plays Superman and Hill plays the needy Green Lantern. Offerman appears as the robot pirate character Metal Beard. Franco has a cameo in the film as Wally. 14. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller wanted Liam Neeson to record Good Cop and Bad Cop in different sessions, but he refused. Instead, he recorded them in the same session, adding that manic quality to the character. 15. Cloud Cuckoo Land is actually from 414 BC.
Aristophanes’ play The Birds features a perfect city in the clouds where everything is perfect, called Cloudcuckooland. In the movie, it’s home of Princess Unikitty. 16. Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney, and Christian Bale were all at one point considered to reprise their Batman roles. The role eventually went to Will Arnett. 17. At the end, the LEGO structures in the videos that appear behind Emmet while he’s talking to President Business are real stop-motion films made by fans, not filmmakers. 18. When Emmet jumps into the abyss that leads to the human world, he falls through a cardboard box labeled “Magic Portal,” which is a nod to the first Brickfilm ever made, The Magic Portal. 19. There are tons of references to The Matrix. The protagonists of both films live in worlds constructed by outside forces. Neo, the chosen one, dies at the end of The Matrix, and is brought back with the ability to see the Matrix for what it truly is.
Emmet, the Special, falls into the human world and is dropped back into the LEGO world by a human child. When he’s returned, he can “see everything,” and can now see the part numbers for all of the pieces, just like Neo. 20. When Vitruvius says “We gotta write all that down ’cause I’m not gonna remember any of it,” that’s actually a Morgan Freeman outtake. He was frustrated with constant script changes, but the line worked so perfectly in the film. 21. President Business’ helmet and cape are designed to look like a neck tie. Much of the President Business design incorporates elements of a typical businessman, like the horns of his helmet being made of coffee mugs. 22. The suds in Emmet’s shower and the smoke in other scenes are actually made of LEGO ice cream scoops. 23. The pigs steering the the protagonists’ stagecoach crash and explode into a bunch of sausages. 24. It’s not the first time Will Forte has played Abraham Lincoln. He voiced the former president on MTV’s Clone High, which was also one of the very first TV shows Phil Lord and Chris Miller worked on.