Lego Dimensions (film)

Lego Dimensions is a 2022 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 6th installment in the LEGO Extended Universe (LEU). Directed and written by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the film features an ensemble cast including Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Elijah Wood, Will Arnett, Dave Franco, Michael Cera, Michael Peña, Rosario Dawson, Alison Brie, Abbi Jacobson, Emma Stone and Fred Armisen. In the film, the formation of an interdimensional rift causing several dimensions to collide, as well as several of his supervillains. The story follows the coming together of the heroes and their attempts to stop the danger that threatens the multiverse.

Lego Dimensions premiered in Los Angeles on August 21, 2022, and was released in the United States and United Kingdom on September 2, 2022 in RealD 3D, IMAX, IMAX 3D, and 4DX formats. The film received praise fo screenplay, humor, animation, action sequences and voice acting, and grossed over $1 billion worldwide, making it the 6th-highest-grossing animated film of all time at the time of its release and the 5th-hightest-grossing film of 2022. Lego Dimensions garnered numerous awards and nominations including BAFTA nominations.

Cast

 * Chris Pratt as Emmet Brickowski: An everyman, construction worker, and a Master Builder from Bricksburg.
 * Elizabeth Banks as Lucy / Wyldstyle: A Master Builder, next chosen and Emmet's girlfriend; she is a super-skilled girl in combat and with a slightly happier past than she likes to tell.
 * Will Arnett as Bruce Wayne / Batman, a DC Comics superhero who is a Master Builder; he dedicates himself to protecting Gotham City from its criminal underworld as a highly trained.
 * Elijah Wood as Brody Reyes: A man previously persecuted by the FBI and the law after being wrongfully framed; After being released after proving his innocence, he has dedicated himself to working in technology.
 * Dave Franco as Lloyd: The Green Ninja, leader of the Secret Ninja Force, Lord Garmadon and Misako's son and Master Wu's nephew.
 * Zack Galifianakis as Joker: A clown-themed villain in Gotham City and Batman's archenemy, who defines himself by his conflict with him; he is the villain who leads the conflict, and who is finally delivered to the Arkam Asylum, for his retention.
 * Michael Cera as Dick Grayson / Robin: A 18-year-old teenager who was adopted by Batman; Under the name of Robin, he loves working alongside his father, but has been struggling for the past few years to cling to a solo career.
 * Michael Peña as Kai: The hotheaded red Ninja of Fire and Nya's brother.
 * Rosario Dawson as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl: The police commissioner of Gotham; she works together with Batman under the name of Batgirl.
 * Alison Brie as Unikitty: A Master Builder who is a unicorn-horned cat; former ruler of a super kingdom, she has a hot temper and now rests under the care of Emmet and Lucy.
 * Emma Stone as Jane Dangerburger: A hyper-intelligent girl and the right hand and love interest of Brody Reyes.

Development
Ideas for a crossover film began in July 2017, with plans to release the film in the 2020s, after the successful reception of The Lego Batman Movie and The Lego Movie Sequel months earlier. A directors' room met in late May 2018, where plans were discussed for a set "shared universe", where all the characters would collide on screen; Jorge R. Gutierrez added references and a last-minute post-credit scene to The Billion Brick Race at the request of Warner Bros. According to Lord and Miller, who were tapped as directors and writers the following December, there were comments and jokes compared to The Avengers in the room

Shortly after production on The Billion Brick Race was completed, Kevin Tsujihara explained that the film would be "ushering in the future" of Lego movies. Later in 2018, Tsujihara mentioned that the treatments for the story would be based on the canceled Lego Dimensions video game and that the film was also intended to draw references to the existence of other popular culture characters in the universe, opening up the option of including them themselves. later. The film was officially announced in a press release from Warner Bros. in September 2019, under the name Lego Dimensions. Following negotiations between the studio and The Lego Group to continue producing more films, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic, development on the project was put on hold until May 2020, when it resumed to begin production in Canada from home in November.

Writing
A tentative release date of May 2022 was announced in February 2021. Phill Lord and Christopher Miller reaffirmed on August 3, 2021 that the title of the film is Lego Dimensions, and stated that the film would be loosely based on the story of the film. video game, without having Lord Vortech involved, and being "somewhat more mature than the previous films, while still having the characteristic optimism and grace". Despite this, it was later revealed that having Lord Vortech as the main antagonist was highly regarded, but was dropped to give more creative freedom to the story.

Casting
Casting began in late 2019 and it was reported that Warner Bros. was taking steps to bring back the full cast of the previous five films. Chris Pratt as Emmet, Elizabeth Banks as Wyldstyle and Will Arnett as Batman announced for April 2021 participation. Elijah Wood and Emma Stone signed in June. In November 2021, Jason Momoa would reprise his role as Aquaman from the DC Extended Universe, along with the full cast of the Justice League from the previous films. Zach Galifianakis returned as the Joker and Dwayne Johnson announced his return to his role shortly after. Michael Cera, Nick Offerman, Stephanie Beatriz, Jenny Slate, Fred Armisen, Dave Franco and the rest of the cast will be announced in May 2022..

Theatrical
Lego Dimensions debuted at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on August 14, 2022, followed by a premiere on Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles in August 21. The film was released in the United States on September 2. The film was originally scheduled for general release on May 20, 2022 before the DC League of Super Pets (2022) moved to that date. The film was later moved due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, to its current release date.

Home media
The film was released on digital download on December 12, 2022, and was released on Blu-ray Disc, Blu-ray 3D, 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray, and DVD on March 24, 2023 in various international markets. As of August 20, 2023, it has made $28.1 million in DVD sales and $41.5 million in Blu-ray sales.

Box Office
Lego Dimensions was a box office success, it earned $389.5 in the United States and Canada and $694.2 million in other territories for a worlwide total of $1.083 million. On November 9, the film crossed the $1 billion mark, becoming the fourth of 2022 to do so. It was the 5th-hightest-grossing film of 2022, the highest-grossing animated film of 2022 and the 7th-highest-grossing animated film of all time. It had a worldwide opening of $236.3 million, which is the fourth-biggest of all time for an animated film. Deadline Hollywood estimated the film's net profit at $307.1 million, taking into account production, marketing, and talent involvement budgets; The box office gross and home media receipts put it second on their 2022 "Most Valuable Blockbusters" list, finishing as the highest ranking animated film.

In United States and Canada, the film was released on September 2, 2022 along with [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honk_for_Jesus._Save_Your_Soul ''Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul'',] over Labor Day weekend. The film was initially projected to debut between $65-80 million in 4019 theaters (including 200 IMAX screens). After earning $43 million on first day (including $15.1 million in Thursday previews, a record for a September release), opening week projections increased to $95-120 million. It ended up debuting to $119.1 million, surpassing the opening of Lego Batman in 2017 ($81.4 million), to become the highest opening and the first to open over $100 million for the franchise. The film also had the best opening of the pandemic era for a animated film, beating $91 million Lightyear (2022) opening, being the first to cross the $100 million mark, and the second-best opening for a September film. Deadline attributed the increase to positive audience reaction to the film and most of its predecessors, its critical reception, good word of mouth, and family demographics, even with the factors present from the COVID-19 Pandemic. Opening weekend viewing was evenly split between men and women over, with 55% men and 45% women, 55% families, 25% couples and 20% teens. It set the record for the second-biggest weekend in September with $76.1 million a drop of 45%. It also set records for the highest September day gross through Thursday. The film continued to have good stability which was credited to its word of mouth remaining exceptionally strong. Lego Dimensions completed its theatrical run in the United States and Canada on January 29, 2023.

In other territories, the film was released in 11 markets on August 31, 2022, and grossed $15.1 million. It opened to more markets from September 1, earning $58.7 million from 39 countries. As of Sunday, September 4, it had a long opening weekend with a total of $117.2 million of which $52.1 million came from China. The film held the top spot at the box office for four consecutive weekends and was in the top three for 10 weeks. Was a huge box office success in China. It opened there on September 2 and set an opening week record for a foreign animated film with $69.2 million. By its second weekend, it had already passed the $170 million mark; The film's widespread success in the second week was attributed to its proximity to the Mid-Autumn Festival and became the highest-grossing foreign animated film of all time in the country, surprassing Zootopia (2016). In total earnings, the largest countries outside the US and Canada are China ($281.1 million), Japan ($70 million), the United Kingdom ($58 million), Mexico ($40.7 million), Brazil ($39 .6 million) and Germany ($38.1 million).

Critical response
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, reported an approval rating of 90%, with an average score of 8.10/10, based on 392 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "An astonishing, action-packed, moving, humorous and energetic reunion, Lego Dimensions proves the gold standard of Lego movies." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 87 out of 100 based on 46 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an "A" grade on a scale of "A+ to F".

Alex Welch of IGN gave the film a score of nine out of ten and said, "Although it seems basic, Lego Dimensions enriches everything we know about this franchise and enchants anyone, moving adults and children alike." For the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper gave it 3.5 stars out of 4, commenting that "the only problems are mainly the structure. Other than that, Lego Dimensions shows a solid story and that it is not only entertaining and epic but also moving.'" Sandy Schaefer for Screen Rant gives the film four stars out of five saying, "Lego Dimensions strives to deliver some insanely well-written entertainment." Alonso Duralde of TheWrap gave the film a mixed review, saying, "Although the film has many story flaws, none of that will matter as long as the story remains sustainable and talk about these funny (or obnoxious) talking Lego blocks. ". The script writing, plot, and theme were sources of praise. Scott Mendelson of Forbes thought its storytelling qualities provided a way of seeing that had never been seen in the Lego movies. There was also praise for the voice acting, highlighting Chris Pratt, Elijah Wood and Elizabeth Banks

Accolades
At the annual Golden Globe Awards, it won the award for Best Animated Feature Film. It was also nominated for the British Academy Film Awards. It was named one of the top ten films of 2022 by the National Board of Review and the American Film Institute.

Possible sequel

 * More information: LEGO Extended Universe

By April 2022, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller expressed interest in directing a sequel, especially with the opportunity to build on the original plot featured in the 2015 video game. In September 2022, Warner Bros. reported that there were "no immediate plans" for a sequel to the film. Later in November, Lord and Miller noted that while they were open to directing a "Lego Dimensions" sequel, they were focused on developing other projects they're already involved with. The film has been described by Allison Abbate as "a narrative dead end" with no sequels planned at the moment but with the possibility of developing it in an indefinite time.