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Lego movie being built by Warner Bros

Warner Bros. is planning a Lego movie, which will mix the brick-built world of the Lego video games with real actors.

Richard Trenholm Former Movie and TV Senior Editor
Richard Trenholm was CNET's film and TV editor, covering the big screen, small screen and streaming. A member of the Film Critic's Circle, he's covered technology and culture from London's tech scene to Europe's refugee camps to the Sundance film festival.
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Richard Trenholm
2 min read

Lego is heading for the big screen. Warner Bros. is planning a Lego movie, which will mix the brick-built toy world of the Lego video games with real actors, from the makers of Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs and Happy Feet.

The runaway success of Lego's brick-based video game versions of Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Harry Potter shows how much of an appetite there is for Lego adventures in animated form. Warner Bros has been developing the film for a couple of years and has now given the little yellow men a green light for a 2014 release.

The film is being written and directed by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the pair behind Crave fave Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs. It will be brought to life by Animal Logic, the animation studio behind Happy Feet and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole.

This will be Lego's first proper cinematic outing, although there have been straight-to-DVD adventures for themed Lego characters and stories like sci-fi robot thingies Bionicles and Indiana Jones-style adventurer Clutch Powers.

Lego could have been in trouble in 2005 when a judge ruled that the famous studs no longer belonged exclusively to the Danish company. That paved the way for competitors to make toy building sets based on the same brick and stud combination, including recent Doctor Who toys and explicitly military building sets, which Lego has always refused to offer.

But with a move into vidyer games, Lego assured itself a new lease of life, winning over new generations of fans. Meanwhile a stud-culture of adult Lego builders creating MOCs -- My Own Creations -- goes from strength to strength.

Are you excited about a Lego movie? Will it be as satisfying as slotting in the last piece on a finished model, or as painful as treading on a four-stud brick? Build your thoughts in the comments, on our Facebook page, or at Google+.