Transformers, GI: Joe (read: Action Man) and Cluedo are among the much-loved children's games and toys which Hollywood has recently seen fit to adapt for the big screen. Now Lego: the Movie looks set to be the latest to find its way into multiplexes after studio Warner Bros finally gave plans for its long-gestating film the green light.
Billed as a family-friendly action adventure based on a mix of CGI animation and live action, the new project currently remains untitled but has Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs' writer-directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller on board. It looks likely to shoot in Australia for a release in 2014, according to Variety. Robot Chicken's Chris McKay has also signed up as a co-director, working under Lord and Miller.
A Lego film has been on the cards at Warner since at least 2008. The Danish toy company has historically been fiercely protective of its property in the face of regular Hollywood overtures, but warmed to the idea of a family-oriented flick embracing its key values of fun, creativity and boundless imagination. Warner Bros has asked Australian firm Animal Logic, which worked on the Oscar-winning Happy Feet and its forthcoming sequel, to take charge of the animation for the movie.
The Lego System of Play was born in the small town of Billund back in 1955, but it wasn't until the famous studs-and-tubes platform was launched in 1958 that the toy really took off. It has twice been named Toy of the Century and today, seven sets are sold per second.
Apart from Transformers and GI Joe, other toys supposedly set to invade the multiplexes include a new adaptation of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Monopoly, Candyland, Battleship, Stretch Armstrong, View-Master, Max Steel and Hot Wheels. Of these Battleship, with Peter Berg on board as director and a cast that includes Liam Neeson, Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgård and Rihanna, looks likely to arrive in cinemas first: it's due next May. Monopoly was supposed to have Ridley Scott in the director's chair, but was recently put back to 2014 in the wake of the director's decision to shoot Alien not-prequel Prometheus and a sequel to Blade Runner, instead.
