Lego Dimensions (film)

Lego Dimensions is a 2022 American computer-animated comedy film produced by Warner Animation Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. based on the videogame of the same name. It is the sixth installment in the LEGO Extended Universe (LEU). Directed and written by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller and produced by Dan Lin and Roy Lee, the film sees the return ofChris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Elijah Wood, Emma Stone, Will Arnett and Rosario Dawson.

Lego Dimensions had its world premiere in Los Angeles on August 27, 2022, and is scheduled to be theatrically released in the United States on September 2 in 2D, 3D, and Dolby Cinema by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Cast

 * Chris Pratt as Emmet Brickowsk.
 * Elizabeth Banks as Lucy / Wyldstyle, a Master Builder, next chosen and Emmet's girlfriend.
 * Will Arnett as Bruce Wayne / Batman, a DC Comics superhero who is a Master Builder.
 * Emma Stone as Jane Dangerburger, a hyper-intelligent girl and the right hand and love interest of Brody Reyes.
 * Elijah Wood as Brody Reyes, a man previously persecuted by the FBI and the law after being wrongfully framed.
 * Dave Franco as Lloyd, the Green Ninja and leader of the Secret Ninja Force.
 * Zack Galifianakis as Joker, a clown-themed villain in Gotham City and Batman's archenemy, who defines himself by his conflict with him.
 * Alison Brie as Unikitty, a A Master Builder who is a unicorn-horned cat.
 * Michael Cera as Dick Grayson / Robin, a 18-year-old teenager who was adopted by Batmanr.
 * Michael Peña as Kai, the hotheaded red Ninja of Fire and Nya's brother.
 * Rosario Dawson as Barbara Gordon / Batgirl, a police commissioner of Gotham.

Development
The film entered development in late 2017, with plans to release the film in 2020. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were tapped as writers and directors and like the previous films. A directors' room was set up the following month to properly develop the film iterations of the franchise and to discuss the central plot points. Producers Dan Lin and Roy Lee reiterated plans for the film later in 2018 and said that Lord and Miller had a story idea for the film. Kevin Tsujihara mentioned that the story treatments were being viewed "closely, very closely" from the video game Lego Dimensions.

Lord and Miller were later asked how much planning they had put into the film while it was in development in previous months, to which they replied that they knew how far they wanted to go with the story and the implications it would have on the franchise. They said that by planning the film they were also actively designing the future of future installments of the franchise in advance "it's crucial what we're doing; in advance we're desing a universe for a franchise. It can't be arbitrary but it's solid [... ] Until now, the previous Lego movies had pretty clear definitive endings T hey were much more episodic, and of course, they weren't particularly connected." The directors also said that the film would introduce many more characters from popular culture and stated that future films could explore them properly.

Writing
Lord and Miller agreed to be writers after discussing a basic set of ideas they had for the film. By June 2018 they began to work on the script and devised the basic story, although at that time the treatments began. They described the film as "definitely more narratively mature than the previous films." By December 2018 announced that the first draft of the script was completed. Lord and Miller stated that the film would not adapt the story of the original video game and would only be loosely inspired. In January 2019, they were asked if it would be difficult to merge the environments of the films, "No", they said, "because in reality the film tries to mix the worlds in an organic way, the bases are already laid, really, just we help in the mixture". In the writing process, the script would go through "a lot of crazy iterations of what it could be". In May 2019 was revealed that the script for Lego Dimensions had been completed by Lord and Miller. Lin stated in July 2019: "My personal opinion is that Lord and Miller's work has been fantastic; they put together the world of these characters, they love them and they will do their best with their writing [...] These movies, this universe, They say that they are already part of them and their career, they will do a great job and we support them in their ideas".

Casting
Casting began in October 2018 with the signature of Chris Pratt. In December, Elizabeth Banks and Will Arnett confirmed their return. Elijah Wood and Emma Stone, who played Brody Reyes and Jane Dangerburger in The Billion Brick Race (2019), stated that they were willing to return to their roles in the film and by April 2019, The Wrap reported that he would appear in the film. Later that month, Laurence Fishburne joined the film's cast to play an unknown central character.

In August 2019, Zack Galifianakis, Rosario Dawson, and Michael Cera confirmed that they would reprise their roles after placing requests with producer Dan Lin and executives at Warner Bros. That same month, Dave Franco, Alison Brie, Dwayne Johnson, Daniella Pineda, Channing Tatum, Jason Momoa, Cobie Smulders, Anika Noni Rose, Kristen Wiig joined the cast of the film with Momoa playing his role as Aquaman from the DC Extended Universe.

Production
Warner Bros. announced in July 2018 that a untitled Lego film, would be released on July 16, 2021. By October 13, 2018, the title of the film was announced. Animal Logic signed on in April 2019 to provide animation during production, the studio had already participated in the previous films of the franchise. Due to directors' scheduling conflicts, production did not begin in Canada until January 9, 2020, leaving more time for revision of the final script.Production was put on hold in March 2020 as a safety measure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A decision on when to resume production was originally expected in several weeks, but was pushed back to May. Production resumed on June 19, 2020 and was underway at the end of July and continued until May 2021. The film's release had previously been delayed by a year due to the pandemic, giving the post-production team time to work on visuals effects, sound mixing and music as separate and exhaustive processes, unlike the post-production of previous films in the franchise. The film was completed on March 18, 2022 with a running time of 1 hour and 16 minutes, making it the longest film in the series.

Marketing
Lego Dimensions had a marketing campaign with reported costs of up to $150 million. Exclusive images from the film were presented at CinemaCon on April 28, 2022. The first trailer was released online on May 2, 2022, four months before the film's release. The debut received praise from critics and fans and became a global trend on social media. The trailer reached 231.7 million views in its first 24 hours, setting the sixth-most viewed trailer in one day. Beginning June 7, Warner Bros. went on a three-week promotional tour in Mexico City, Tokyo, London, Copenhagen, San Diego, and Los Angeles. A second trailer was released on July 17 and was immensely publicized by the media. A presentation at San Diego Comic-Con featuring the cast was held the same month. Like the rest of the franchise, The Lego Group released toys based on scenes from the film.

Theatrical
Lego Dimensions premiered on August 27, 2022, at the Regency Village Theater. The film was originally scheduled for general release on July 16, 2021, but due to scheduling conflicts and then the COVID-19 pandemic, it was pushed back to May 20, 2022 and later to September 2, 2022.

Home media
Lego Dimensions was scheduled to stream on and HBO Max streaming service 45 days after its theatrical release, but was pushed back indefinitely on September 1.

Box Office
Lego Dimensions has grossed $377.7 million in the United States and Canada and $679.4 million in other territories for a worlwide total of $1.057 billion.

In the United States, Lego Dimensions is projected to gross $75–90 million in its opening weekend.

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 90% of 278 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.0/10.

Possible sequel
In November 2022, Lord and Miller were in talks about the possibility of a Lego Dimensions direct sequel.