

In the Lego universe, the wizard Vitruvius is blinded when he fails to protect a superweapon called the "Kragle", a tube of Krazy Glue with the label partially scratched, from the evil Lord Business, but prophesies that a person called "The Special" will find the Piece of Resistance capable of stopping the Kragle. The Lego Movie is the first entry in what would become the franchise of the same name, which includes three more films- The Lego Batman Movie (2017), The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017), and The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019). Although it did not receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature, it garnered numerous other accolades including Producers Guild of America Award for Best Animated Motion Picture and a nomination for Best Original Song at the 87th Academy Awards. The National Board of Review selected The Lego Movie as one of the top films of the year. It became a critical and commercial success, grossing $468.1 million worldwide against its $60–65 million budget, and receiving critical acclaim for its animation, story, humor, soundtrack and voice acting. The Lego Movie premiered in Los Angeles on February 1, 2014, and was released in the United States on February 7. The film was dedicated to Kathleen Fleming, the former director of entertainment development of the Lego company, following her death in Cancún, Mexico, in April 2013. Much of the cast signed on to voice the characters in 2012, including Pratt, Ferrell, Banks, Arnett, Freeman, and Brie, while the animation was provided by Animal Logic, which was expected to comprise 80% of the film. While Lord and Miller wanted to make the film's animation replicate a stop motion film, everything was done through computer graphics, with the animation rigs following the same articulation limits actual Lego figures have. The film was strongly inspired by the visual aesthetic and stylistics of Brickfilms and qualities attributed to Lego Studios sets. Chris McKay was brought in to co-direct in 2011 with Lord and Miller, and later became the film's animation supervisor. in November 2011 with a planned 2014 release date.

It was officially green-lit by Warner Bros. By August 2009, it was announced that Dan and Kevin Hageman had begun writing the script. to form his own production company, Lin Pictures. Plans of a feature film based on Lego started in 2008 following a discussion between producers Dan Lin and Roy Lee, before Lin left Warner Bros. A collaboration between production houses from the United States, Australia, and Denmark, its story focuses on Emmet Brickowski (Pratt), an ordinary Lego minifigure who helps a resistance movement stop a tyrannical businessman (Ferrell) from gluing everything in the Lego world into his vision of perfection. The film stars the voices of Chris Pratt, Will Ferrell, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, Nick Offerman, Alison Brie, Charlie Day, Liam Neeson, and Morgan Freeman. It was written and directed by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller from a story they co-wrote with Dan and Kevin Hageman, based on the Lego line of construction toys. The Lego Movie is a 2014 computer-animated adventure comedy film co-produced by Warner Animation Group, Village Roadshow Pictures, Lego System A/S, Vertigo Entertainment, and Lin Pictures, and distributed by Warner Bros.
