The LEGO Movie Panel [Comic-Con 2013]
The LEGO Movie may not seem like a Comic-Con like movie, but it’s got LEGOS! I was shocked at how big of a draw LEGO (the toy) is at Comic-Con. Add in an extremely impressive voice cast for the movie adaptation, and it makes sense they’d appear in Hall H. Without a lot of other info to go on, their panel shed some insight on the upcoming film. Dan Lin, Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Chris McKay were on-hand Saturday to present an extended look from what we’ve seen before.
During Thursday Night’s “Trailer Park” panel, I got my first look at The LEGO Movie which happened to be the only trailer I’d not seen yet. My first impression was it felt a lot like Wreck-It Ralph, both because of the toy component and the nostalgia part.
Directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller had footage that gave us more than the trailer, though. It included “auditions” for the role of Emmet (Chris Pratt), Batman (Will Arnett), Lord Business (Will Ferrel), and Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman), among others. These outtake-like clips were really, really funny. I’m unsure if they’ll end up in the final film, but maybe on the special features. These auditions segued into a new trailer narrated by Morgan Freeman himself.
Although the entire panel was full of answers akin to “we can’t tell you anything,” they did get the go-ahead to announce a couple superhero cameos that will appear in LEGO form. Arnett was already known as Batman, but Channing Tatum will voice Superman, Jonah Hill will voice Green Lantern, and Cobie Smulders will cross-over to the D.C. universe as Wonder Woman.
Besides that, they went into detail about why they constructed the film and how. Basically, they’re trying to make a higher-budget film like the various LEGO movies amateurs upload to YouTube. As LEGO fans themselves, they thought this would be an homage to these fun films. They also said that it’s a “hybrid” between computer-animation and stop-motion using real LEGOs, although they want it to all look like real legos. Speaking of which, it is entirely made of LEGOs (or CGI LEGOs), meaning this could conceivably be a movie amateurs made (with unlimited time and resources).
The LEGO Movie seems like a bit of a passion project, and from what I saw between the trailer and the panel, it could turn out to be a very fun movie. The voice cast is phenomenal and the LEGO world is rich with potential. The movie will release early next year so it’s not too far off.
Studio: Warner Brothers
Director: Phil Lord, Chris Miller
Starring: Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Will Arnett, Elizabeth Banks, Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson
Release Date: February 7, 2014
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