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Warner Bros. + Lego = Movie

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In yet another toy-inspired movie, Warner Bros. hits the bricks with Lego:

Movies based on toys couldn’t be hotter in Hollywood, with nearly every studio adapting playthings for the bigscreen.

Now count Warner Bros. as one of those studios: WB is toying with plans to develop a movie around Lego and its popular building blocks.

Scribes Dan and Kevin Hageman are penning the script for the family comedy that will mix live action and animation. Warners is keeping the plot tightly under wraps, but it’s described as an action adventure set in a Lego world.

Okay, so this seems to be the angle:

1. Pick a venerable toy that is not yet a movie project.

2. Pitch toy with an action-adventure premise.

3. Sell pitch for mega-bucks.

Simple!

For the toymakers, a movie is seen as a way to raise awareness around a brand and sell more playthings. For the studios, a toy-based film only makes it easier to promote a pic to audiences given the built-in recognition factor.

More spoon-fed consumerism on your way courtesy of Hwood!

9 thoughts on “Warner Bros. + Lego = Movie”

  1. There are a LOT of toys that my generation are nostalgic about…. Voltron, Shogun Warriors, Micronauts, Matchbox cars, Lincoln Logs, Hungry Hungry Hippo, Tinkertoys…

    This toy-to-film era could go on for a looooooong time. Buckle in folks.

  4. I don't know why this seems so strange. Is it really any worse than adapting every single comic book that's come out in the past 20 years? Or the period when Hollywood was remaking every sitcom?

  5. I'm still waiting to get JJ Abrams attached to a My Little Pony project, but I've yet to hear anything about it.

  7. G.I. Joe and Transformers were one thing, at least as toys they were sold with an existing backstory. A Lego is an inanimate piece of plastic. It's only story is that it was made in China and can choke a baby.

    At this current rate of stupid, I predict that by 2015 film will be reduced to adaptations of basic universal cognitive associations. Warner Bros. will adapt hot chocolate into a movie and Universal will be working on a sequel to having a cold pillow.

  8. Steve,
    At least comic books are stories, and sitcoms sort-of are a story as well, but Legos, Viewmaster? They're objects, not stories. This toy movie trend makes me kind of ill.

  9. Hollywood is killing itself.

    Well, all we can do is keep working to be the best writers we can for when they come to their senses.

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