Coloured bricks and yellow heads have become the unlikely toast of the cinema box office as Hollywood's most plastic movie yet opened in the UK. Starring animated characters and familiar bump-topped scenery, The Lego Movie is not only perhaps the biggest product placement film ever seen, but it marks a key moment in the rise and rise of the Scandinavian toy company that at the end of last year became the world's second biggest after seeing a 13% increase in sales during what are tough times for other toy makers. The song from the movie, Everything is Awesome, is already a YouTube hit and on Sunday evening the film's release will be celebrated by an entire ITV commercial break of three adverts being recreated in Lego pieces. The marketing director at Warner Bros, Alex Lewis, described this as "a truly innovative media first, and one that captures the very essence of The Lego Movie and does a brilliant job of amplifying this eagerly awaited title". Not that there seems to be a need for much more amplifying.
In the US, where the film was released a week ago, it was said by the Hollywood Reporter to have made £42.1m in its opening weekend, beating the relatively modest £15m grossed by George Clooney's much hyped and star-studded movie, The Monuments Men, which opened on the same day. It's a phenomenal success story for the Danish firm, which almost went under less than 10 years ago amid dropping sales and dire predictions that digital-savvy kids would no longer want to play with plastic building bricks – even when they come in 51 colours. But Lego is seeing a massive resurgence in popularity. There are now 86 Lego bricks for every person on earth, with around seven sets sold every second, while the 400 million tyres that are produced each year for them makes it the world's biggest tyre manufacturer. The Chinese are catching the bug in such numbers that a Lego factory is to be built there this year. Adults are returning to their childhood favourite in droves. They even have a name, "Afols" (adult fans of Lego).
"It's a certain demographic, mostly in their 40s," says Simon Bennett, 42, who started the UK's Brickish Association a few years ago with a handful of members but in recent months has seen the numbers swell to almost 300. "We're getting more every week. You have to be 18 to join, although we keep getting requests from people who are almost that age, begging to join; our oldest is in his 60s. "Mostly it's a case of those who played with Lego as a child coming back to it. For me, it wasn't until I had left university and started my first job that I saw a car set and I thought, what the hell, I really wanted it. We have a lot of events and 6,000 people turned up to the last model show in Swindon. This is 2014 and it's fine to be a geek! There is far less stigma especially now we have David Beckham admitting he plays with Lego." Like most Lego players, Bennett is excited about the film. "I hear the message in it is to build your own ideas, build for yourself, which is great."
Rebecca Snell, head of marketing for Lego UK and Ireland, said the company loved its adult fans: "Afols are essentially brand ambassadors for Lego and it's great to see their passion for building come alive in their creations. It's rare that you see a month go by where there isn't something in the press that one of these fans has built, and the time and energy which has gone into the models is always incredible. "There is a lot of love for Lego. Parents of today remember playing it when they were children and so playing with their own kids evokes childhood memories. With Lego you can build whatever your imagination desires, it's good old-fashioned play that stimulates imagination, promotes role play and aids dexterity." But gender is an issue for Lego: 86% of figures are male and the successful girls range, Friends, that the company brought out in 2012 after four years of research, was heavily criticised for its pink colours, curvy bodies and the hairdressing salon-type themes.
Lego's top management team in its headquarters at Billund includes two women among 23 men. "Most of our members are male," admitted Bennett, "but around 30% are female. They could definitely have more female characters in the City sets; in some of the licensed sets it's difficult because there aren't many female characters in Star Wars or The Avengers. It would be nice if it was better balanced." The film, made in association with the toy firm, has a heavily male cast, voiced by actors including Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Liam Neeson and Morgan Freeman. It is the story of everyday Lego folk, including Batman and a figure called Emmet who has to save the plastic brick world against the tyrant Lord Business. Dan Fellman, president of Warner Bros Pictures, has already hinted at sequels: "You will be hearing more from us, and we will definitely be talking very shortly about our plans for Lego," he said. The firm is controlled by Denmark's richest man, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen, the grandson of Lego's founder, Ole Kirk Kristiansen, who coined the word Lego from the Danish words leg godt, meaning "play well".
Dogged by problems including workshop fires and recession, Ole, a carpenter, finally made a success out of using plastic bricks in the 1950s, an idea he got from an Englishman, Hilary Page, who never lived to see his self-locking brick company receive an out-of-court settlement from Lego in the early 1980s. In September Lego overtook Hasbro to become the world's second biggest toy maker, with 8.8% of the market, behind Mattel, the firm behind Barbie, Fisher-Price and Hot Wheels. "They really pulled it off, from a near disaster," said David C Robertson, American author of Brick by Brick, a study of the Lego corporation. A new chief executive and some dramatic curtailing of projects with which the company had overstretched itself, along with some clever choices in licensing new ranges, brought Lego back from the brink, he added. "The amazing thing is that this movie really reflects the Lego story, a story of winning out against all odds. I'm so tired of hearing people talk about Apple as the great success, the genius at the top.
Lego really understands the power of an idea. Little innovations and low risk, unbeatable. They pay a lot of attention to detail and to the brand: they wouldn't let any characters in the film kiss, for example, it's only holding plastic hands." Thirteen sets themed around the movie are in shops now. Lego is not cheap and prides itself on a reputation for quality, although Robertson points to the fact that the cost of the plastic used is under $1 a kilo, while, once it reaches a Lego set, it is worth around $75 a kilo. "You'll notice the film wasn't released at Christmas, the normal time for a big kids' film, and I'm sure what the directors of the movie would have wanted. But Lego don't have any problems selling bricks at Christmas. They do want extra sales in February, though." It may be no coincidence that construction toys are bucking the trend as parents worry that children are spending too much time on screens and look for anything else that might interest them. "There may well be something in that parental angst," said Robertson, "but it's ironic that the biggest threat to Lego's continued success seems to be Minecraft [the online game of building blocks].