One of the funniest bits in The LEGO Movie is when the Millennium Falcon shows up to come and get Batman. But that Star Wars cameo almost didn't happen — the makers of the film had to rush to finalize their deal with Lucasfilm before Disney bought the company. Producer Dan Lin explains to The Hollywood Reporter in a new feature:We flew up to Lucas Films [in Northern California] and showed them a small sample and they approved. But a few weeks later, Disney bought Lucas. So we had to rush to close our deal with Lucas before Disney closed its deal.That's just one of the many narrow scrapes the film had during its seven-year journey to get to the screen, according to the THR feature. Lin had a huge challenge convincing the skeptical LEGO executives in Denmark that a film was even needed, or could represent their toys in the proper spirit. Superman got held up in litigation over whether Warner Bros. even owned the character any more. And they needed to find a way to make digital animation that looked like LEGO bricks — which they did using a program called Lego Digital Designer to create a hybrid of stop-motion and CG animation, "Lego-izing" their storyboard drawings.
One thing that didn't make it into the final movie: a couple of kissing scenes. In an earlier cut, Batman and Wyldstyle kiss, and you hear a clicking sound as their plastic heads smush together. And there's also a kissing scene involving mermaids. But these were "too edgy" for the final film. Tons more details at the link. It's only been out for one weekend, but you've probably — like most of the world — seen "The LEGO Movie" multiple times. But did you catch all the Easter Eggs and plot points that zip by during the non-stop speedy dialogue and action? Here are some of our favorite blink-and-you-miss-it moments. And spoilers on, of course: "Eight And A Half Years Later" Right at the top of the movie, after Lord Business (Will Ferrell) and Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman) battle for possession of the all-powerful Kragle, we cut to a title screen that says, "Eight And A Half Years Later." While this is a nice preview of the running "very specific time frame" joke throughout the movie, it's also way more important to the plot.
That's because Finn (Jadon Sand), the kid who ultimately turns out to be playing with the LEGOs in the movie is eight and a half years old. So though it's never explicitly stated, when Finn was born, The Man Upstairs locked his toys away, separated the worlds and made sure that his son would never play with them. Given the poignant ending, this is yet another beautiful, emotional detail that adds to the richness of the film. Batman, Superman, Green Lantern and Wonder Woman all get their time to shine in the movie, but there is one other DC Comics superhero gets his big screen debut. That would be the Flash, seen during Metal Beard's flashback to the Master Builders' initial assault on Lord Business' stronghold. He doesn't get any lines, so hopefully we'll get to see more of the speedster in the sequel. When Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) and Emmet (Chris Pratt) visit The Old West, you can hear a plinky, olde timey Western version of "Everything Is Awesome" playing in the bar.
One of the biggest cameos in the movie has to be when the Millennium Falcon shows up unexpectedly next to our heroes' pirate ship. Though they weren't able to get Harrison Ford back as Han Solo (he's voiced by Keith Ferguson, who's done various Ford characters on "Robot Chicken"), they did manage to snag Billy Dee Williams for Lando, and Anthony Daniels for C-3P0. It's surprising that the Warner Brothers movie managed to get Disney's talent, but the long relationship between LEGO and Lucasfilm makes the whole thing a little more understandable. And super freakin' awesome. Another big screen reunion, Channing Tatum plays Superman and Jonah Hill plays Green Lantern, reprising their partnership from directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller's "21 Jump Street." The team will once again reunite on "22 Jump Street," though out of their superhero costumes. When Vitruvius runs down all the worlds Lord Business has tried to lock down, he mentions there's a bunch we don't care about. One that quickly flashes on screen is Bioncile, a LEGO line that ran from 2001-2010 with a deep, complicated back-story of its own.
Though this may have been a joke at the expense of some of the brick-maker's failed toys, it's also an indication of places the story could go in the sequel. What's With All The Croissants? One of the more knowing jokes in the movie finds Emmet's "friends" talking about what makes them all different, which includes eating croissants, and loving turkey drumsticks. The reason behind this is that LEGO has a few generic foods that fit right into mini-figs hands. Croissants actually show up in over 30 different LEGO sets, while turkey drumsticks are in well over 50. Probably the only item more popular is carrots, which show up over 60 times. Here's one we actually missed, but according to Deadline there's a shout-out to Jeffrey Robinov. The legendary studio head was working at Warner Brothers and greenlit "The LEGO Movie," before abruptly leaving the company. Perhaps he's mentioned on one of the many, many billboards in Brickington at the beginning of the movie? We'll just have to go watch the movie a few more times to find out...
"The LEGO Movie" is currently in theaters. Contribute to This Page The LEGO Movie was something a shock to the system when it hit theaters in 2014, and went on to become something of a cultural phenomenon. Since then, Warner Bros. Pictures has started moving forward on multiple LEGO film installments, including The LEGO Movie Sequel as well as three related spinoff films: The LEGO Batman Movie, Ninjago, and The Billion Brick Race, all of which will release over the course of the next two years. There has been very little information regarding the plot of the forthcoming franchise films, beyond the news that LEGO Movie writer/director duo of Chris Lord and Phil Miller have completed the first draft for the sequel (which they will not direct). However, the latest word from series producer Roy Lee hints at some potentially exciting things for fans of the first LEGO film to anticipate with the franchise’s upcoming installments. Speaking with Collider, Lee was readily forthcoming regarding the planning stages currently being set during the production of The LEGO Batman Movie, Ninjago, and The LEGO Movie Sequel, even as he was careful not to divulge anything too revealing regarding the narrative content of any of the attached scripts.
When asked to comment on what viewers can expect from the LEGO Batman movie world, Lee was quick to cite his affinity for the design of Gotham City and the surrounding LEGO Movie universe, stating: “Seeing where Batman lives in full LEGO, the audience will love. Seeing Gotham City fully rendered in LEGO. It’s currently being animated right now because it’s the next movie coming out. Batman will have the same character choices as he had in The LEGO Movie.” Lee had additional things to say in regards to Ninjago (which is sure to please fans of the original Cartoon Network animated series), while offering a far grander cinematic canvas against which viewers of the now burgeoning LEGO film universe will also be able to explore and enjoy. “Anyone who knows the series on Cartoon Network will be blown away by the look and feel and huge scope of how we’ve expanded the universe of Ninjago. It’s like seeing The LEGO Movie in a ninja universe.” Finally, Lee addressed which preexisting movie characters viewers can expect to see when The LEGO Movie Sequel finally sees release in May 2018, specifically citing the fact that the film already has many of its voice actors performances in place.
He then went on to mention his desire to include more Star Wars character cameos in the film. On said topic, Lee added: “The first movie we got a lot of cameos, and it’s not that hard to get them to say yes, especially when they already have deals with LEGO. Having Star Wars, you would think would be almost the hardest thing to get, and if we got Star Wars, there’s other things that would be a lot easier.” Some viewers of the first LEGO Movie might remember the brief appearence of Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian aboard the Millennium Falcon, though any additional Star Wars characters in the sequel can only be met with further anticipation and delight. And any other pending cameos can only mean more room for the filmmakers to explore and experiment with existing franchises and extant fan bases. For now, viewers will just have to wait until the new LEGO movies hit theaters – no matter how exciting they might sound to the ears of moviegoers eager to return to the wildly imaginative world initially established by Lord and Miller’s original film.