The Lego Movie 3

The Lego Movie 3 is a 2024 American computer-animated comedy film directed and written by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, who co-wrote the script alongisde John August. Produced by Warner Animation Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the sequel of The Lego Movie (2014) and The Lego Movie 2 (2017), and the 7th film in the LEGO Extended Universe. Voice cast members include Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Alison Brie, Nick Offerman and Charley Day reprise their roles from the previous films, with Will Ferrel, Channing Tatum and Cobie Smulders in minor roles. In the film, Emmet (Pratt), Wyldstyle (Banks) and their friends team up to save the world from the catastrophic threat of an alien army, which is out to destroy the planet in order to colonize it.

Lord and Miller had discussed plans for a sequel by January 2017 and the ideas for the film began later in the year. The film was announced in July 2018 with an initial release date of 2020. Lord and Miller wanted to differentiate the film from their previous installments, seeking to make a film inspired by the typical science fiction of the 1980s. August came on board to contribute to the script in February 2020, with the further casting revealed later that year. Production began in early 2021 in Vancouver, Canada and concluded at the beginning of May 2023.

The Lego Movie 3 premiered in Los Angeles on January 23th, 2024, and was theatrically released in the United States on February 2nd, 2024. The film received positive reviews from critics and has grossed $274 million worldwide.

Plot
One year after repelling the invasion following the Battle of Metropolis, Emmet and Wyldstyle start a family with their newborn son Will. The rest of their friends, however, have lost part of their contact, although the couple hopes to meet them again at their son's birthday party. To their dismay, they become aware of the arrival of a fleet of unknown ships that is rampaging through Bricksburg. Soon after it is revealed that the vehicles are carrying alien life, forcing everyone to take refuge amid a massive invasion of terrifying creatures.

Two years later, the tension has escalated to a point of siege warfare. Emmet and the group lead a faction of survivors into a destroyed Brickburg, though they believe the battle is already untenable. After a manhunt leaves Benny injured, they form a counter-insurgency mission, though the initial plan fails and Wylstyle, Unikitty, Batman, and Metal Beard are trapped on a takeoff mothership. Although Emme and Benny get help from two scientists named Eli and An, they are unable to communicate with the trapped group, and Wyldstyle in turn plans an escape in order to undermine the alien facility from the inside as well. The group on the ground look for a way to help them, although the operation is interrupted by attacks from the aliens, who have crossed the defensive lines. The trapped group determines an assault plan, however, Metal Beard senses an approaching presence, and gigantic bionic tentacles attack Wyldstyle before they flee. The group then breaks into a solitary room to help treat his injuries, though Batman is trapped by a pod and separated from the group.

Desperate Emmet summons some reinforcements to help him stop the threat. Although most enemies are extinguished, Benny privately tells him that he has learned that invaders never die completely; then parts of the aliens' bodies congregate in the Bricksburg sewers and explode into a bio-organic mass. Wystyle's group is still shocked by Batman's disappearance, though they continue on his way in order to figure out a way to find him and escape the ship. They are attacked by aliens, though Wyldstyle is able to flee while Unikitty and Metal Beard stay behind to fight; she manages to reach a room resembling the ship's machinery, apparently powered by plasma. Out of time, and listening hard to his friends, he finds a way to trigger an explosion that causes the ship to collapse to the ground and a flood. Emmet, Benny and the girls watch from the ground as the ship crashes to the ground. Fearing the worst, Emmet and Benny armed themselves and set out to find their friends. Wyldstyle wakes up after the crash, and looks for a way out of the ship, Batman and Unikitty are reunited and Metal Beard escapes and sees Emmet and Benny, who have begun fighting off hordes of aliens. He and Wyldstyle soon after join the battle.

Emmet then finds Batman and Unikitty and the entire group is reunited, though the bionic mass monster catches the group off guard. Emmet, Metal Beard, and Benny attack the creature, while Wyldstyle and Unikitty try to escape with an injured Batman. However, Wyldstyle ends up trapped inside the flooding ship, while Emmet manages to defeat the monster after destroying its core. They quickly help the nearly unconscious Wyldstyle. As they escape, the mother ship is completely wiped out by an explosion, rendering all the alien troops fragile. Two months then, the invasion has been suppressed almost entirely and the group meets to celebrate Will's three years, in celebration of victory.

Cast

 * Chris Pratt as Emmet Brickowsky
 * Will Arnett as Bruce Wayne/Batman
 * Tiffany Haddish as Michael
 * Stephanie Beatriz as Jane
 * Charlie Day as Benny
 * Alison Brie as Unikitty
 * Nick Offerman as MetalBeard
 * Tenoch Huerta as Norwegian
 * Will Ferrell as Lord Business
 * Channing Tatum as Superman
 * Cobie Smulders as Wonder Woman
 * Jonah Hill as Green Lantern

Development
Before the release of The Lego Movie 2, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller expressed interest in returning to direct and write a third film. By then they had discussed what they would want in a possible third film. On August 8th, 2018 Dan Lin revealed that a third film of the series is in development but it does not yet have a release date For 2019, both prepared treatments, however, they decided to change the narrative to be a science fiction adventure that they began to develop in the following months and July 12, the film was officially announced. At that time the production was slow, due to the tight schedule of the directors. They cited a lack of time to direct and write as a reason the film's development was convoluted in the early stages.

On January 14th, 2020, Warner Bros. Pictures officially a release date of February 2nd, 2024. Dan Lin and Roy Lee were announced as producers a month later, with Lord and Miller serving as executive producers. By the end of June, Lord and Miller had finished a first "volume" of the script they had been working on since 2018, when they got into an argument with August about its plot, who found it interesting and striking. Later that month it was confirmed that Chris Pratt and Elizabeth Banks would be returning, reprising their lead roles from the previous films. As of July 28th, Will Arnett was in final talks to play his Batman character. Over the next several weeks, Nick Offerman and Charlie Day confirmed her return and Alison Brie confirmed that she would play Unikitty in a minor role. In June 2021, it was announced that Tiffany Haddish and Stephanie Beatriz had joined the cast as two undisclosed characters, who later revealed themselves to be two girls specializing in astronomy and supernatural things. Australian animation studio Animal Logic, which contributed to the previous films, announced their cooperation on the film as part of an earlier deal. In August 2021, Lord and Miller said that they would be "bringing some eye-catching elements to the table to make the film a completely different experience from its predecessors" and described themselves as "raptured" by the film's concept. In September, Phil expanded by saying that the film would connect with Lego Dimensions (2022) but it would have a story on a much smaller scale, being able to make the characters, the story and the tone, open interpretations of the production team.

Pre-production
In May 2020, it was reported that John August would be working alongside Lord and Miller on the script. When they agreed, they discussed a basic set of ideas they already had for the film, and within the first ten days they began working on the new script and coming up with the basic story, inspired by Star Wars (1977). Miller said the story was influenced by the idea of ​​the uncertainty of extraterrestrial life and what it would be like to wake up and discover unknown beings potentially dangerous to everyone with no ability to communicate with them. In addition, the film was described as a typical 1970s and 1980s sci-fi adventure. It began with a rough two-page treatment containing basic beats and rough character sketches, showing the plot as a monster spectacle while They continued to create a story with recognizable characters.

In the initial treatment, they had included elements of the story that they considered for the previous films in the series or that they considered excessive for a single film. The script took a year to develop and although it ended up being the same as the final film, some lines were changed, revised and improved during filming and post-production, including more details about the integration of the villains in the universe; for this they were based on some plot points shown in movies like Independence Day (1996) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). By October 2020, the script was still being written, and August expressed his excitement to do something drastically different from the previous films, feeling that the third act of the film was proving to be more challenging in terms of writing, as many of the arcs of the story converged and needed to be resolved. In November 2020 it was announced that the script had been being written on and off for over 6 months up to that point and that final work would begin that week. Lord and Miller also called the film "their version of Aliens", calling the humorous construction of the previous films and the balance between seriousness and Aliens ' "funny, tongue-in-cheek moments" as a similar approach for The Lego Movie 3.

Many central parts of the film were rewritten multiple times. In the original script, the characters of Sweet and Michael were originally written as acquaintances, however they were changed in later drafts for story consistency and to act as newly added lead characters. The final battle went through many rewrites, Lord and Miller initially describing it as a battle in space inspired by Return of the Jedi (1983), before being changed to a "more earthy, explosive and monstrous" confrontation for the viewer. In one treatment, entire sequences of the aliens terrorizing different groups of characters were written, but were later cut due to presumed suspicion and because they were deemed "unnecessary to show the spectacle of the film", an arc inspired by the film had also been originally written. into a "serialized Godzilla"-like creature, however, it was quickly scrapped early in development.

Production
In February 2021, production was scheduled to begin that same year at the Animal Logic studio in Vancouver, Canada and by May it entered the process after various screenings and suggestions, and a three-month evaluation. Animation and production took a year and a half, with around 48 animators involved in the film. Rendering took 26 hours, and it took three weeks of animation to create ten seconds of additional footage. They called the final battle the most difficult sequence to do, with particles, colors and multiple moving objects in each microshot. The design reflected scenes from Lego Batman (2017), and was emphasized by free form techniques. Around 300 different Headquarters designs were developed. The production of the film took advantage of Animal Logic's latest update to its trace renderer, Glimpse, to improve on-screen detail and depth-of-field

For the creatures in the film, their designs were required to give off an evil presence and evoke a sense of the grotesque, stating "These characters can't look like another kind of super-intelligent alien in big spaceships. Most of Hollywood has that covered. These have to be different, weird and creepy, but not terrifying." Lord and Miller were inspired by the design of The Thing (1982) for the creatures, the sketches made it seem that emotions were superior, even though the rules were broken within such limits. The directors instructed the designers to look at the designs of various creatures from movies of yesteryear was considered important that the creatures be conveyed as dangerous entities to the characters and not as "especially sentient beings". The overall design of The Lego Movie 3 drew heavily on influences from the neon aesthetic, prominent in the 1950s, as well as LED lighting, converting actual light from a geometry, and styling it with "sprite-like and golden" modifications. Using scaling progressions they measured the size of the world build of the main characters.

Post-production
In November 2023, Clare Knight was revealed to be serving as the editor, after previously working on the franchise during post-production on Lego Dimensions (2022). In June of that year, Channing Tatum, Cobie Smulders and Jonah Hill revealed that they would play Superman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern, respectively. Voice recording began in late 2022 and ended in mid-2023, with some scenes re-recorded for re-takes after Comic-Con.

Music
Lorne Balfe was revealed to be composing the score by July 2023, after previously working in Lego Batman (2017). The soundtrack album was released digitally by WaterTower Music on February 1st, 2023, including Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", remix version of "I Think We're Alone Now" by Tiffany Darwish, and feature Likke Li's song "I Follow Rivers" over the film's end credits.

Release
The Lego Movie 3 had its world premiere at Regency Village Theatre in Westwood, Los Angeles on January 23, 2024, and was released in the United States on February 2, 2024. The film was previously set to be released in 2019, before being officially announced as releasing on February 2022, in January 2020. It was delayed to the last date of 2024, in December 2020.

Box office
As of February 6th, 2024, The Lego Movie 3 has grossed $164.1 million in the United States and Canada, and $128.3 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $292.8 million.

In January 2024, The Lego Movie 3 was projected to earn $95 million in North America over its opening weekend. The following month, it was projected to debut to $115-135 million domestically and $300 million globally on its opening weekend. The film made an estimated $71.1 million on its first day, including $25.5 million from Thursday previews that began at 3 P.M, a record for an animated film. It went on to debut to $141.8 million exceeding expectations, marking the second-best opening of the franchise and the third-best for a February release, behind Black Panther ($202.1 million in 2018) and Deadpool ($152.1 million in 2016).

Critical response
The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported an approval rating of 84% with an average rating of 7.8/10, based on 311 reviews. The site's critics consensus reads: "While not as dazzling as its predecessors, The Lego Movie 3 fits right into the franchise, with an emotional story, heart and humor to spare." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 73 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally positive reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale, and those polled by  PostTrak reported 90% of audience members gave the film a positive score, with 82% saying they would definitely recommend it.