It’s safe to say that no one knew exactly how big of a hit The LEGO Movie would become, yet it currently stands as the second-highest grossing film of the year, after earning a comfortable $452.4 million since it hit theaters in February. News of a sequel came as no surprise, and the film is currently set for release on May 26, 2017.
Warner Bros. executives clearly aren’t shying away from their love of the property, and are interested in expanding the franchise, beginning with a Ninjago spinoff. We were wondering if the film would arrive before or after The LEGO Movie 2, and we now have an answer to that question. According to Deadline, the Ninjago movie will hit theatres on September 23, 2016.
Based on the LEGO Group’s popular ninja-inspired mini-figure line, Ninjago will be helmed Tron: Uprising director Charlie Bean and produced by The LEGO Movie producers Dan Lin, Roy Lee, Phil Lord, and Chris Miller. When making the announcement, Warner Bros. domestic distribution president, Dan Fellman had this to say about the spinoff:
“Following the huge success of The Lego Movie, we are very excited to build on the Lego franchise. We know there are already Ninjago collectors who can’t wait to see their favorite characters on the big screen. This promises to be a terrifically fun and thrilling entry into our Fall 2016 slate, with broad audience appeal.”
Releasing a Ninjago movie before The LEGO Movie sequel is an interesting move, and the studio is likely doing it so that the film will benefit from The LEGO Movie‘s impressive momentum. This also means that we’re getting a LEGO cinematic universe of sorts, and if this film proves successful, you can bet that we’ll see more spinoffs in the future.
There really are endless possibilities with where they can take the property, and plenty of popular LEGO themes to choose from. Perhaps something like the uber-popular Chima line? Or an older series, like Bionicle? The first film introduced the idea of various LEGO realms to explore, so perhaps these spinoffs will simply focus on some of those? I guess I’m getting ahead of myself, but that’s the whole point of LEGO, right? To expand your imagination!
Tell us, are you excited about the prospect of a Ninjago movie? Sound off in the comments below!