At first glance, The LEGO Batman Movie seems like a standalone spinoff film, as it has the air of an ‘Anthology’ tale, like Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, or the upcoming Han Solo movie. Centering on the popular supporting character from 2014’s The Lego Movie, The LEGO Batman Movie ultimately shares precious little connective tissue with its blockbuster predecessor.
But, nothing happens in a vacuum, and the director of The LEGO Batman Movie, Chris McKay, recently explained to Entertainment Weekly that his film is very much a part of a developing narrative, which is currently being shaped into a cinematic universe.
“Everyone says this, but for lack of a better phrase, there’s a LEGO cinematic universe that we’re building that has a sci-fi premise, as far as the world that the movies are taking place in for the majority of the running time, and the other world that’s out there. I think over the course of the movies, we’re building out the relationship between those. There’s no mandate necessarily to do that, but we are very actively working to find all of the rules and develop that relationship between the real world and the LEGO world. You’ll start to see it in what we’re doing with Ninjago and what what we’re doing in LEGO 2.
“There’s definitely a part for Batman in LEGO 2. Everyone loves Will Arnett and the Batman character. There are going to be the repercussions of what’s happened in [LEGO Batman]. If you agree that he went through some change, there’s more stuff in store for Batman in LEGO 2.”
Even in these earliest days of the LEGO cinematic universe, it seems as though Batman may serve the same purpose in toy animation as he does in the DC Extended Universe – popping up in other films in the universe, as well as having his own titles. In terms of this LEGO film franchise, that’s brilliant news – since Will Arnett’s vocal take on the Dark Knight is widely considered to be outstanding in nature.
We don’t have a cast list just yet for The LEGO Movie Sequel, so it remains unclear as to how the lessons Batman learns in The LEGO Batman Movie will impact the franchise as a whole. Since the emphasis is on teamwork, could we see a greater number of cast members crossing from the Gotham LEGO set onto that of the sequel? Will there be a re-bonding between Batman, Emmet, and Wyldstyle? At the current time, we have to wait until February 7th, 2019 to find out.