Kenny Ortega to produce live-action LEGO Friends musical
NINJAGO isn’t the only theme to receive a live-action adaptation, as High School Musical’s Kenny Ortega will adapt LEGO Friends next year.
The LEGO Group has announced that a live-action LEGO Friends musical special will air on TV screens next year, with filming set to begin in August under the direction of Kenny Ortega, who will serve as executive producer. Ortega’s past work includes High School Musical, Hocus Pocus and Descendants, giving him plenty of experience with musicals aimed at a younger audience.
The LEGO Friends TV special will feature live-action musical performances and a fusion of physical and digital backdrops. With next-generation technology specialists, Final Pixel, it will include oversized LEGO elements alongside state-of-the-art LED volume technology and real-time rendering with Unreal Engine.
“I don’t know who’s more excited – my family or me,” said Ortega. “We are a LEGO-loving household, and receiving this invitation from the LEGO Group to join them in their first live-action musical is an absolute honour. Also being able to produce alongside the wonderful team at Final Pixel, leaders in virtual production, has me overjoyed, and I am thrilled to have my longtime creative partner, Paul Becker, alongside.”
“I couldn’t be more excited to bring this story to life through song, dance, and cutting-edge technology,” shared Becker, known for his work on Julie and the Phantoms and The Kissing Booth. “We’ve got an incredible team, and we’re creating something truly special.”
The storyline of the special will follow a girl who constructs a world out of LEGO elements, only to be transported to Heartlake City. Whether it will use the characters of the original generation or the reboot has not been confirmed, but the latter is more likely. Similarly, no tie-in LEGO sets for the special have been confirmed at the time of writing.
“Creating a live-action interpretation of the Friends world is breaking new ground for us, so it’s very exciting,” said Jill Wilfert, SVP, Global Entertainment Partners and Content at the LEGO Group. “We hope fans will enjoy the experience and continue singing the songs after they’ve watched the special. LEGO Friends has been a significant theme for 13 years, and as we continue to develop and offer our fans new experiences, this special is the perfect fit for the creative and playful LEGO Friends universe.”
The LEGO Friends musical special will start filming in London in August, with a release next year at the time of writing. It’s not the first original LEGO property to be adapted in live-action, though. Universal Pictures and the LEGO Group are teaming up with NINJAGO writers Kevin and Dan Hageman for a live-action NINJAGO movie in the future, too.
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