Universal Pictures reportedly lining up new ‘hybrid’ LEGO movie

Universal Pictures is said to be lining up a new ‘hybrid’ live-action and animation LEGO film with the directors of 2022’s The Lost City.

Variety reports that Aaron and Adam Nee have signed a deal with Universal Pictures to develop the first picture in its five-year partnership with the LEGO Group, which began in 2020 – and has yet to bear fruit. The clock is ticking, but the reported cancellation of the live-action Masters of the Universe movie at Netflix – which the Nee brothers were set to helm – may free up their schedules for Universal.

That’s only when normal service resumes in Hollywood, of course, and there’s no telling when that might be. The dual actors’ and writers’ strikes have put pause to most productions, and upended schedules across the industry – so whether anything ever comes of Universal and the LEGO Group’s deal remains to be seen.

Further details on the project are few and far between, meanwhile, beyond Variety’s tease that it will bring together live action and animation in a single film. The LEGO Movie and The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part both took a similar approach under Warner Bros. in 2014 and 2019, featuring sequences with live-action actors, but not to the same degree as fully-fledged animation/live-action mash-ups like Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Space Jam.

With only two years left on Universal and the LEGO Group’s original agreement, the studio will need to act fast – or, perhaps more likely, extend its partnership beyond the initial five-year term.

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