Warner Bros. keeps snapping more pieces on to its rapidly expanding Lego cinematic empire. First, it was the obvious and logical decision to assemble a sequel to The Lego Movie, a massively successful critical and commercial hit. Next, someone at the company noticed that those Lego Ninjago sets seem to sell pretty well, so why not make a movie out of that, as well? Then, of course, was the clear realization that they had Batman in the first movie, and no one doesn’t make a Lego Batman movie when they’ve got a Lego Batman laying around, so that’s happening, too. But that still only leaves three Lego movies on the docket, which is a far cry from the infinite number Warner Bros. wants. So today comes word that yet another Lego film is in development, this one called Billion Brick Race.
This latest grand idea in corporate synergy will be co-written and co-directed by Jason Segel and Drew Pearce, because that’s what Lord and Miller did with the first one, and the surest way to replicate success is by shamelessly copying it beat for beat. When it comes to screenwriting, Segel is a studio comedy veteran at this point, but this will be his first time directing. Drew Pearce comes from the world of action movie writing, having penned the scripts for several action franchises (he’s even credited with the Iron Man 3 screenplay, but come on, everyone knows that’s a Shane Black joint), including the upcoming Mission: Impossible—Rogue Nation. Presumably the studio is hoping that the two can be snapped onto one another, forming a comedy-action wunderkind who could then be reassembled in any number of ways.
The story is reportedly based on an idea from Pearce, but is being kept in its original packaging, because opening it would hurt the resale value. Lord and Miller (along with fellow Lego Movie producers Dan Lin and Roy Lee) will be around to help piece together this film, probably sneaking on to other studio lots to slowly begin placing Lego pieces in those films, too. All of our entertainment will be converted to Lego so gradually, we won’t even notice. Now go play with your Legos, so that by the time the next Lego movie Legos around you’ll be Lego-ing your Lego Lego.