According to a report from Deadline, The LEGO Movie franchise may be about to make the jump to a new studio, with the trade claiming that Warner Bros.’ deal with The LEGO Group may be about to come to an end after the studio opted against green lighting a new project.
Apparently, Universal Pictures leads the pack, but is one of several studios interested in picking up the big screen rights to the iconic toy brand. However, any future deal will apparently exclude characters from The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Batman Movie, who will remain at Warner Bros. regardless.
The franchise launched in 2014 with the release of the Phil Lord and Chris Miller-directed The LEGO Movie, a critical and commercial success. This was followed by the 2017 spinoff The LEGO Batman Movie, another solid hit, although the franchise suffered diminishing returns with 2017’s The LEGO Ninjago Movie and this year’s The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part.
Warner Bros. had previously announced a sequel to The LEGO Batman Movie for 2022, and has also been developing The Billion Brick Race for a number of years. At this point, the status of those projects are unclear.