Of the four (yes, four) LEGO movies set to hit theaters in the next 4-5 years, The Billion Brick Race might be the biggest question mark of the bunch.
When initially reported back in March of last year, not much was known about this about this mystery project (the fifth installment in the LCU) other than that Jason Segel and Drew Pearce were headlining as both writers and directors.
But now, after an exhaustive search on the internet, we have unearthed two under-the-radar reports that shed new light on the film. Plot details are still unknown at this stage, but we now know what the tone of the film will be and who will actually be directing.
First off, let’s begin with some clarification. In October of last year, when Jason Segel was doing press rounds for an indie project titled The End of the Tour, Segel confirmed to IndieWire that he was only co-writing the film and not directing, despite his aspirations for the director’s chair. “That was misreported when it first came out,” he told the publication (therefore confirming Pearce as the sole director). When asked specifically about the movie itself, he promised, “It’s everything a kid would hope for, I think.”
Nothing to chew on there. Luckily, his co-writing partner was a tad more forthcoming. Earlier in July, Drew Pearce spoke to Nerd Report at a time when he was doing press rounds for Mission Impossible – Rouge Nation. Asked to describe the general tone of the film, Pearce confirmed what what most of us thought when we saw the title: an epic ‘race movie’ set in the LEGO Movie universe.
“Modestly, hopefully it will be the biggest race movie of all time,” Pearce said. “Imagine doing a race movie but having the ability to do it with Lego. So part Cannonball Run, part Wacky Races, but with a real working class Rocky style blue collar vibe to it as well.”
He also elaborated on the process of pitching the film to LEGO Movie architects Phil Lord and Chris Miller, while also hinting at the possibility of Billion Brick Race being the untitled LEGO movie dated for 2019: “I came up with an original Lego idea, a completely standalone Lego movie, kind of out of nowhere. Then spoke to Phil and Chris and they’re exec’ing it. I’m directing that and Jason Segal and I are writing it. It won’t come out until so many years in the future that I might even be dead. It’s like 2019 that it’s coming out, and that will run along in the background of what I do which is hopefully write and shoot an original script.”
One major benefit for the writers and directors who get to play in this universe is that the structure of The LEGO Movie world allows for a multitude of stories that run counter to the mainline films, which primarily concern themselves with telling the story of Emmet and Wyldstyle. As such, there’s plenty of legroom for multiple styles and genres to come into play while still maintaining the meta-textual bent established by Lord and Miller.
“In a weird way, the act of it being Lego is fundamentally, quite literally built into them being bricks,” Pearce said. “Chris and Phil just have this style that is constantly meta yet also deeply emotional and I think that’s brilliant. I think this will be a cross of my voice, which is more harder and narrative and action based, with Segel’s voice which is the beautiful warmth of the first Muppet movie, filtered through Chris and Phil’s amazing world of Lego they’ve created.”
The LEGO Batman Movie arrives in theaters on February 10, 2017. The LEGO Ninjago Movie follows on September 22, 2017. The LEGO Movie Sequel lands in theaters on May 18, 2018, while an untitled LCU film (possibly The Billion Brick Race) is set for May 24, 2019.
What do you think? Based on the details above, Are you looking forward to The Billion Brick Race?
Edited by: Hannah Wilkes
