1. Mark Mothersbaugh, who was the main composer on Rugrats, wrote the score for The Lego Movie. 2. The film racked in a whopping $468 million worldwide. 3. Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller planned to include R2-D2 in the film, but had to scrap him after a battle over ownership rights. However, they were able to work out a deal to have Anthony Daniels reprise his famous role as C-3PO for the film. 4. The film’s success will spawn three separate Lego-themed films: The Lego Movie Sequel, a direct sequel to the original film; Ninjago, which will be based off the product line Lego Ninjago; and The Lego Batman Movie, a film that will feature Will Arnett reprising his role as the Caped Crusader. 5. After the film dominated box offices, Lego profits skyrocketed by 15%. In 2014, approximately 62 billion Lego pieces were sold, which equates to about 102 Lego pieces for every single person in the world. 6. When the idea was initially pitched, Lego executives weren’t interested.
Their company was already doing very well, and they didn’t want to risk it. They eventually changed their minds after reading the treatment by Kevin and Dan Hageman. 7. All Lego pieces in the film were digitally rendered, resulting in a total of 3,863,484 pieces. However, if the producers had chosen to make the film stop-motion animation, it would have taken 15,080,330 pieces. 8. The “Where Are My Pants?” running gag parodied How I Met Your Mother. Phil Lord and Chris Miller were writers and executive producers for the show’s first season. 9. The corporation Lord Business runs is called “Octan,” which is a fictional brand of gasoline Lego created back in 1992. 10. Morgan Freeman, who voiced Vitruvius, assumed he’d be doing scenes with the other actors, because he thought that’s how animated movies worked. He ended up doing his part alone in a room. 11. Both Robert Downey Jr. and Emma Stone were considered for the main roles, but Chris Pratt and Elizabeth Banks ended up playing the parts.
12. In an older draft of the script, Unikitty ends up with Batman. However, in another version, she ends up with Metal Beard. 13. Posters in Emmet’s apartment clearly reference 21 Jump Street, which Phil Lord and Chris Miller directed in 2012. Macho and the Nerd is actually the Russian title of that film. 14. Consequently, both Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill from 21 Jump Street have cameos in the film as Superman and Green Lantern, respectively. 15. This ended up making Phil Lord and Chris Miller battle with Warner Bros. about letting Superman and Green Lantern have a certain storyline in the film. 16. The directors wanted the Lego pieces to look used and played with, so they worked with their effects team to add fingerprints, fading, and scratches. 17. No one ever says the word “Lego” during the entire movie. 18. Chris Miller drew some of the artwork the characters use in the film. 19. Liam Neeson insisted on doing his Good Cop and Bad Cop characters at the same time, instead of during separate sessions like the directors wanted.
20. According to Will Arnett, Batman was chosen as Wyldstyle’s boyfriend to make Emmet feel completely out of her league. No one can compete with Batman. 21. Will Forte, who voiced Abraham Lincoln, actually played the president years earlier in the short-lived TV series Clone High. This show was created by The Lego Movie directors, Phil Lord and Chris Miller. 22. Benny the spaceman’s helmet is cracked in a certain spot because Lego’s space-line products from the 1980s would tend to break in that exact location. 23. Vitruvius’ line, “Ah, we gotta write all that down ‘cause I’m not gonna remember any of it, but here we go,” wasn’t originally in the script. It was only added when Morgan Freeman said it during filming because he was frustrated with all the line changes.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.