Lego Dimensions (film)

Lego Dimensions
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mike Mitchell Chris McKay
Written by	Erick Sommers
Produced by	Dan Lin Roy Lee
Starring	Chris Pratt Elizabeth Banks Elijah Wood Will Arnett Dave Franco
Edited by	Clare Knight
Music by	Mark Mothersbaugh
Production company	Warner Animation Group Point Grey Pictures Annapurna Pictures Good Universe Platinum Dunes
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	September 2, 2022
Country	United States Denmark Australia
Language	English

Lego Dimensions is a 2022 American computer-animated comedy film based on the video game of the same name and produced by Warner Animation Group and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It is intended to be the 6th installment in the franchise, directed by Mike Mitchell (with Rob Schrab) and written by Erik Sommers and stars Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Emma Stone, Will Arnett, Elijah Wood, Charlie Day, Liam Neeson, Fred Armisen , Justin Theroux, Olivia Munn and Zack Galifianakis reprise their roles from previous apparences. In the film, an extraneous event triggers the destruction of the multiverse, forcing different heroes to come together and try to stop the threat, unaware that the Joker, is setting in motion an evil plan for domination, to reclaim a powerful destructive power.

In late 2017, the studio announced that it had initial ideas for a crossover film in the franchise, and after creating an initial writers room for the story, it was officially announced in April 2018, with Sommer as writter. Mitchell were publicly revealed as director in June 2018, however due to the tight schedule, early development was delayed. Sommer began the final script in 2019, and production began in January 2020 at Animal Logic studios in Canada. Production was briefly interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic and ran until late-2021.

Lego Dimensions premiered in Los Angeles on August 13, 2022, and was released in the United States on September 2 in RealD 3D, IMAX, Dolby Cinema and 4DX formats, as well as in conventional theaters. The film received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the performances of the plot, the voice cast (particularly those of Pratt and Banks), animation and the action sequences.

Premise

Different heroes begin to watch the multiverse fall apart and must unite to stop the event, while fighting a terrible enemy.

Cast

• Chris Pratt as Emmet Brickowski:
  The master builder who became the chosen one before saving the universe ten years ago.Pratt said that the film would delve into Emmet's character after his story was established after The Lego Movie 2 (2017).
• Elizabeth Banks as Lucy/Wyldstyle:
  The Emmet's wife, A fatal girl who sought to pretend a gloomy past and in search of the Chosen One after being in a pop band. Producer Dan Lin said that Lego Dimensions would further explore Wyldstyle as the main character we will follow in his past story, even beyond what is established.
• William Shatner as Gandalf, a wizard from Middle-earth and a Master Builder. Hansen reprises his role from the previous films.
• Will Arnett as Bruce Wayne / Batman: a DC Comics superhero who is a Master Builder. Is reclusive billionaire who obsessively protects Gotham City as a masked vigilante to cope with his past.
• Zack Galifianakis as Joker: a clown-themed villain in Gotham City and Batman's archenemy, who defines himself by his conflict with him.
• Dave Franco as Lloyd Garmadon: The Green Ninja, leader of the Secret Ninja Force, Lord Garmadon and Koko's son and Master Wu's nephew. In the film Lloyd has matured as the leader of the team.
• Michael Pena as Kai: he hotheaded red Ninja of Fire and Nya's brother.
• Elijah Wood as Brody Reyes: A race car driver who was hunted down by the FBI after becoming involved in a government matter.
• Emma Stone as Jane Dangerburger:
  Brody's girlfriend, is a super-intelligent scientist and mechanic. Jane is amazed to confirm her theories about the multiverse and will be one of the precursors of the conflict in the film. Stone said tht Lego Dimensions would further explore Rambeau beyond what was established in The Billion Brick Race (2019).
• Rosario Dawson as Barbara Gordon / Batgirl: the newly-elected police commissioner of Gotham.
• Charlie Day as Benny, a Master Builder who is a spaceship-obsessed 1980s spaceman. After The Lego Movie 2, he has a metallic arm.
• Nick Offerman as MetalBeard, a Master Builder who is a large bionic pirate with a severed head after he lost his original body in an earlier encounter with Lord Business' forces.
• Abbi Jacobson as Nya: Is the grey/blue ninja, Elemental Master of Water and the original Samurai X. Though she can sometimes be stubborn, Nya cares about her friends and family, often making the most mature decisions of the group and serving as emotional support
• Fred Armisen as Cole: the laid-back music-loving black Ninja of Earth.
• Kumail Nanjiani as Jay: is the blue ninja and Elemental Master of Lightning. He frequently wields nunchucks and more recently, a kusarigama.
• Zach Woods as Zane: Is the white/titanium ninja and Elemental Master of Ice.

Chaning Tatum, Cobie Smulders, Jonah Hill and Jason Mamoa also reprise their roles as Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lanters and Aquaman. Jenny Slate as Harley Quinn, Ralph Fiennes as Alfred Pennyworth, Riki Lindhome as Poison Ivy and Zoë Kravitz as Catwoman, repeat their roles of Lego Batman (2017); Jackie Chan as Master Wu, Justin Theroux as Lord Garmadon and Olivia Munn as Koko, of Lego Ninjago (2018). Other cameos include characters from The Lord of the Rings, Todd Hansen as Gandalf and Sauron's Eye of Sauron such as Yuri Lowenthal as Frodo Baggins, Viggo Mortensen as Aragorn "Strider" Elessar II. Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall appear as voiceless cameos from the Wizarding World franchise

Production

Development

After the release of Lego Batman (2017), producer Dan Lin said that there was interest in a crossover film set in the franchise. Later, a statement from Warner Bros. mentioned that they had some ideas for the concept, and Lin added that "it could be an original story." The studio confirmed plans for the film officially in November 2017, and development began in January 2018, when a writers' room convened to conceptualize the film's story, with Erik Sommers (who partially co-wrote Lego Batman) leading a team formed. Lin stated that the intent of the writers room was to "break the story up" in order for Sommers to write a first draft. A "detailed treatment" was written that was greenlit by Warner Bros. during the first draft stage, and the initial story was structured in an open-ended way so that the audience had an implicit view of the expanding universe. Phil Lord and Christopher Miller were expected to team up after their work on The Lego Movie 2, however they decided against the proposal. The studio had hoped to hire a director to replace them and was aiming for a 2020 release. Mike Mitchell entered negotiations to direct after the studio took an interest in his work on Trolls (2016) and was confirmed for the job in June 2018. The studio had also considered Rob Schrab and Jamie Babbit as directors for the film, but Mitchell was said to have been the frontrunner for some time.

In January 2019, the film was slated for a 2021 release, filling in the date that the studio had previously reserved for an untitled animated film. That same month, it was confirmed that the film would be based on the 2015 video game Lego Dimensions. Mitchell chose this because he was a self-professed fan of the video game, said that the film would feature many more characters from popular culture and stated that future films could properly explore them. He provided some rewrites on the initial work an Lin said in an interview that Mitchell's presentation for the film was amazing, also noting his confidence in his work. Warner announced oficially Lego Dimensions in July 2019, with an release date of July 16th, 2021. In May 2019, Mitchell said he would be working on the film "for the next two years", and assured that Chris Pratt was in negotiations to reprise his role as Emmet in The Lego Movie films. It confirmed the involvement of Pratt and Banks return from their roles in The Lego Movie films in December 2019 and revealed that Zack Galifianakis would reprise his role as the Joker from Lego Batman, as the film's main villain.

Pre-production

Writing work on the film began in November 2018. By this time, all of the franchise's other production teams' scripts had been written; Sommer wanted to know in detail the concepts of the characters and their stories. On his experience with the writers room, he stated, "It was my first experience running a writers room proper, and it was fantastic. It was a lot of fun reading samples, meeting different writers, and creating a story in a group setting. It felt similar. to animation, where the movie happens on the walls, and the end result is better than anyone could achieve on their own." Sommers said Lego Dimensions would deal with "fantasy, cosmic stuff, [and] sometimes sad or personal", having a less light story than previous films in the series. As of mid-February 2019, Sommers had already completed the first draft of his film script and was considering changing some of the character information. In an interview in August 2019, Sommers agreed to be head writer after discussing a basic set of ideas they had for the film, reiterating that it would be "definitely more narratively mature than previous films". Stating that the film would not adapt the story of the original video game and would only be loosely inspired by it, Sommers said that the script would go through "a lot of crazy iterations of what it could be", though the review found that some of these follow-up stories were not worked. Some of the inspirations for the film were Back to the Future (1985) and Event Horizon (1997). Sommers confirmed in November that the Lego Dimensions script was finished, saying very little had changed from his initial ideas despite hiccups in early development.

Production

By October 2018, animation studio Animal Logic was in talks to provide animation during production, after collaborating on all previous films in the franchise. The studio began in April 2019 and production was soon expected to begin in November 2019. However, due to scheduling conflicts with the director it had begun on January 10, 2020 in Canada under the working title Light Madness. In February 2020, the film's release was pushed back, with an estimated production time of 15 months. The COVID-19 pandemic began to affect film productions for the next five weeks, with production likely halted until May, when it began to take place remotely. Before that, the production schedule was still on track to wrap up within the next 13 months, until Warner Bros. changed much of its film slate due to the pandemic in April 2020, moving Lego Dimensions' release date tentatively to April 2022. Mitchell confessed that he "felt kind of glad about this delay" as it gave him and the production team a chance to polish the film a lot more at the time.

The director said that a lot of "dimensional imagery" was used during filming to tell the film's story, as he was able to use his peripheral camera techniques and smooth animation methods in perspective, to create depth and dynamism for the audience. They expressed interest in showing the interactions in the film due to their knowledge of their own characters. According to Someros, the ending of the film had some minor changes from what was originally in the script. Delving into a dynamic, abstract tone, Mitchell said they would be going for a "space show vibe". The production of the film was completed in July 2021, after a year and a half. In September 2021, the film's release was moved to July 15, 2022, after Warner Bros. swap places with Fantastic Beast: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022). And it was further delayed in January 2022, until September 2, 2022.

Post-production

On February 10, 2021, Will Arnett and Dave Franco were announced to have been cast in the leading voice roles of Batmam and Lloyd Garmadon, respectively. Elijah Wood and Emma Stone who played Brody Reyes and Jane Dangerburger in The Billion Brick Race, stated that they were willing to return to their roles in the film and by April 2021, The Wrap reported that he would appear in the film. Around June 2021, Rosario Dawson, Alison Brie y Michael Cera revealed that they would reprise their roles in the film, and Chaning Tatum and Cobie Smulders confirmed their return as Superman and Wonder Woman shortly thereafter. In January 2022 it was revealed that the film's script had been partially worked on by Seth Grahame-Smith, who had served as a writer on Lego Batman and The Lego Movie 2. Post-production on the film lasted eight months. Clare Knight is serving as the film's editor, after working on the franchise with The Lego Movie 2.

Release

Lego Dimensions held its world premiere at the Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles on August 13, 2022, followed by the London premiere at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on August 28, 2022. It was released theatrically on September 2, 2022, in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Reception

Box office

In the United States and Canada, Lego Dimensions was released alongside Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul., Gigi & Nate, Wire Room, and One Way, is projected $103–117 million from 4,180 theaters over its four-day Labor Day opening weekend. The film made $49.1 million on its first day, including $11.3 million from Thursday night previews, increasing weekend projections to $135 million.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 98% of 238 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 9.1/10. The website's consensus reads: "A wacky, reference-filled adventure, Lego Dimensions delivers with a big, action-packed story." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 89 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "universal acclamation". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while those polled by PostTrak gave it an overall 91% positive score, with 76% saying they would definitely recommend it.

/Film's Vanessa Armstrong called it a "well-done" animated film that improved on concepts seen in her franchise previously and had no doubt that it "decided on an indelible part of many young people's childhoods." Molly Edwards of Total Film gave it five stars out of five and called it "A brilliant and charming experience packed with madcap action at every turn."