The Lego Batman Movie is a 2017 3D computer-animated superhero comedy film directed by Chris McKay and written by Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Jared Stern and John Whittington, with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the writers and directors of The Lego Movie, serving as producers. After the success of The Lego Movie, Warner Bros. gave the green light to further multiple Lego movies being produced, including The Lego Batman Movie; Chris McKay, who co-directed The Lego Movie, was brought on board to direct the film, marking this as his solo directorial debut.
In an interview about his work on the film, McKay stated that working on the film was “a very mixed blessing” owing partly to the film’s hectic time schedule for its production, remarking that the two and half years allocated to the film made it difficult to fit in everything that he wanted for the movie, considering his earlier work on The Lego Movie. His work on The Lego Batman Movie was influenced by the comedy portrayed in both The Naked Gun and Airplane! Film series, with his pitch for the film to the studios being described as like “Jerry Maguire as directed by Michael Mann”.
Filmmakers Phil Lord and Chris Miller have made it their business to turn seemingly tired properties (a children’s book about giant food, an eighties television show about cops masquerading as kids) into intelligent and incredibly funny feature films that appeal to kids and adults alike, and their latest outing, ‘The LEGO Movie,’ is no different – it just comes with the added caveat of centering its action on tiny plastic things. If anyone could make a film about LEGOs work, it’s Lord and Miller, and that’s just what they’ve done with their witty and inspired take on the classic toys – but how did they actually make it, well, work?
Despite looking curiously as if the entire thing was made from actual LEGOs, ‘The LEGO Movie’ is a mostly traditionally-animated affair with some special touches. You can sign up for graphics courses and start looking for graphic designing courses that will teach you this craft.
Though the film is not a stop-motion endeavor, Miller and Lord did draw their initial inspirations from fan-made “brick films” that utilize actual LEGOs to build out their settings and characters. Using real LEGOs for the film was, quite simply, extremely cost prohibitive, as the New York Times notes that “it would have cost millions of dollars for the bricks alone,” and considering that even a relatively small ‘LEGO Movie’ branded play set will cost you a cool thirteen dollars for just over one hundred pieces, that estimate is right on the money.
Instead of going full-LEGO, Miller and Lord went for CG animation that mixes in real LEGO sets for some added veracity.
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